More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers
by IceKeys121
Summary: She woke up naked, with a bad hangover, lost her virginity and to no other but Fairy Tail's Ice Mage! Lucy definitely did not sign up for this...Lemon!
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fairy Tail! Hiro Mashima does!**_

* * *

_**More Than a Friend, Less than a Lover**_

_**Chapter 1~**_

Lucy groaned silently as she felt aching wounds between her thighs.

Many thoughts and questions ran through her head.

What had happened last night?

And what the hell had happened to her?

She could feel the sun shinning on her eyes and barely opened them. She felt dizzy and felt like she could puke at any second.

Her body hurt so much that she couldn't slap away the long arm hanging around her waist and keeping her from getting up.

Wait..What!

Lucy opened her eyes slowly but jerked away as fast as she could as the sun stung her eyes, making her fall off the bed.

Thankfully, the bed wasn't that high and the impact wasn't that bad..

She heard someone clearing their throat and Lucy laid on the floor, silent for a few seconds.

There was obviously someone on the bed.. Who? That was a really good question...

It was definitely a guy from the sound of it.

Lucy looked around the room and realized this wasn't her apartment.

The white walls, dark furniture, and random clothes, men clothes, laying around the floor weren't familiar..

Her head jerked up as she examined the room.. Definitely not her room.. The place didn't even look familiar.

She slowly looked up from down the floor and checked who was in the room... but there wasn't anybody, from what she could see. Though, there still was one place she still hadn't checked.. The bed.

She decided to stand up, turned around, and finally saw the person she had seemed to be looking for.

Her eyes widened in shock and her breathing came in quicker.

Her eyes had landed on his glory nakedness and she blushed scarlet before checking his face, and he seemed to be enjoying her reaction.

The moment his dark blue eyes came into view, Lucy froze. She felt numb.

She was shocked to see him.. Not that she hadn't seen him naked before.. But she had never had a chance to actually really see everything.

It was her first time seeing a man completely naked in bed.

Without knowing what to do, Lucy just stood before him, trying her best to not look down to his.. well you know where. She was completely dumbfounded.

_Say something, Lucy! Just say something!_

Frustrated inside and outside looking completely flabbergasted.

Her mouth opened, trying to form any words she could possibly think of. But just seeing him completely naked in front of her had stopped her brain from functioning.

So instead of saying something civil or something she would have probably said in her right mind, she found herself sighing and letting out the single word that would make it seem like the man in front of her had made her fall for him in deep adoration.

"Wow.."

Why that! Why did she have to say THAT!

She cursed at herself and closed her eyes. Sometimes she really was an idiot..

She knew she must have been blushing because she felt the hotness building in her cheeks.

"You don't look bad yourself." Was what Lucy heard after a few seconds of just standing there.

Her eyes snapped opened and she looked down at her body.

The blush that covered her face could be said to be way darker than Erza's scarlet hair..

She grabbed the white sheets that she found on the ground and wrapped it around her body.

"What the hell happened!" She yelled.

A smirk formed on his lips. "Did you really forget?"

She stayed quiet and he sighed.

"You really don't remember a thing, huh?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"I remember being at the guild. We were all celebrating Mira's birthday and then Cana dragged me into a drinking contest.. I'm not a good drinker and ended up getting drunk. I remember feeling sick and running off to the bathroom. I felt dizzy and felt someone carry me and take me away from the guild.. "She trailed of and met his gaze.

Did they..Did it really.. happen?

She remembered the wild party at the guild, the loud guild had irritated her and she had walked off to the bathroom sick and dizzy from the alcohol.. And then someone came and took her away.. Was it him?

Her eyes went wide.

She wasn't a virgin anymore?!

She slowly turned to look at Gray and felt her heart skip a beat.

She.. It couldn't be! She had to still be a virgin!

"And I'm honored to know I took your virginity. I guess it was a first for the two of us." He told her, completely reading her mind.

The sheepish smile he wore irritated Lucy. He had said it as if it was nothing!

Didn't he know how important it was for a girl to keep her virginity!

She clenched her fists in anger. How dare he take her virginity! She had been treasuring it so much! For seventeen years and he just came and took it as if it was nothing!

And to think it was because she was drunk... And from any person that it could of been, it had to be him!

She was about to yell at him when her mouth went dry when her eyes suddenly landed on his lower.. Body part..

She took in a deep breath and looked away.. It was actually quite hard to try and keep her eyes from looking at him.. She couldn't deny that his body had always attracted her. To be honest, each time he stripped at the guild or in missions, she would always peek a little, just a little! Or maybe a bit more..

Don't judge the girl! Every girl has experienced the curiously of wanting, to well, see..what it looks like.. Well at least that's what Lucy thought.. She blamed it on her hormones. She was a teenager after all.

Tired of trying to keep her eyes from his body she took a deep breath and turned to him.

"Cover that thing!" She yelled as she pointed at him.

A deep blush covering her face.

Gray raised an eyebrow.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. This was just to much to take in at once.

She got drunk ad had sex with Gray.

She wasn't a virgin.

And she had SEX WITH GRAY!

Before she knew it, she was being pulled down by him and landed on top of his strong chest. Well, she obviously expected him to have quite a strong chest.. She saw him walking around showing off his abs all the time after all.

She shot her eyes tightly and her breathing came in heavier than before.

She had just lost her virginity to Gray and now she was enjoying the feeling of his 'thing' on her thigh?

"You know, this 'thing' made you scream in pleasure last night." Gray whispered in her ear.

Lucy shivered from the goosebumps she got from feeling his cool breath on her ear.

She couldn't take it anymore. She placed her hands on his shoulders, trying to push herself up but failed miserably as her hands slipped down, making her fall again onto his body while he just kept grinning at her like an idiot.

"Gray, stop." Lucy breathed out heavily.

"But I like whats going on right now. I like having you in my arms, caress you, and making you mine, Lucy." The way her name came out of his lips sent shivers down her spine.

She felt something hot grow on the pit of her stomach and one thought ran through her mine.

She wanted him.

But deep down she knew all this was wrong.

First of all they weren't dating!

They were just friends! Team members! Comrades! Did he even have feelings for her? Did she even have feelings for the Ice Mage?!

They had already messed up things between them and she didn't want to take this any further.

She struggled and wiggled from his grasp but she should have known better, he turned positions, crushing Lucy with his weight.

"You're heavy, Gray." She gritted.

"You didn't complain about it last night. So why start complaining now?" He winked at her with a mischievous smile.

Lucy glared at him. He ignored her and started kissing the crook of her neck, Lucy's eyes closed. A tingling feeling of pleasure shot through her when she felt him thrust his hips slightly towards her own.

She was running out of breath as one of his hands cupped her breasts slowly.

This shouldn't be happening, but Lucy couldn't deny it any longer, she didn't just want him, she needed him.

She bit her lips forcefully at the feeling of his touch on her body.

This was wrong, so wrong.. Lucy's mix feelings were fighting inside of her. This was probably wrong but she was already horny and wasn't willing to stop him. Yet, part of her still wanted this to stop.

"Gray..Stop.." It came out breathlessly as his hand played with her breast. Somehow the sheet that had been wrapped around her body had disappeared and she laid completely naked under Gray.

He took her right nipple on his mouth and glided his tongue there, making a pattern that surely made Lucy feel jumpy with excitement. Longing more and more of him.

A moan escaped her lips, making Gray smirk.

"Why stop, when we're both enjoying it." He was definitely teasing her. At least that's what she thought.

"Gray!" She moaned loudly as his hand slipped by her inner thigh. She could feel his fingers massaging her slowly, torturing her personal part, his skilled, cold, fingers slipping inside of her, and then out, and then in again while his thumb tested her even more.

Her body let loose and loud moans started coming from her mouth.

She had given in to Gray. This time for sure, she had willingly had sex with Gray. And she honestly didn't care anymore. Because her horny mind just wouldn't allow her to think straight any longer, all she could think about was Gray, just Gray.

He began to kiss her lips and Lucy found herself kissing him back.

This might have been wrong but she could care less.

Well, she had lost her virginity to Gray and she was about to lose it to him again, become his once again.


	2. Chapter 2

**_More Than Friends, Less Than_**_** Lovers**_

**_Chapter 2~_**

She couldn't believe she had stayed with him all morning. They had sex three times...

THREE TIMES!

And what made her feel guilty was the fact that she was sober the whole time.

She had faced the fact that she had lost her virginity when she was actually quite drunk which was probably not ALL her fault (technically), but to do it the next morning for a few times and she was actually sober and was really enjoying it was another thing. She didn't know if she should feel happy that now she could finally call herself a 'women' or stupid for letting a man use her body so easily. She hated the thought of the latter.

She blamed Gray for everything..because if it wasn't for him she wouldn't be walking funny towards her apartment with her butt muscles hurting.  
Gray was walking with her, and the awkward silence ate up the air. And it was really awkward.. It wasn't that type of pure silence you would of liked to enjoy.

She saw the lake by her apartment and went on the ledge. She walked along the ledge right beside the water.

"Be careful.." Lucy glanced at Gray and checked out his profile and saw that he was looking straight ahead at the street with a serious face which, uh, turned Lucy on, maybe just a bit.  
Just a tinny bit...

His dark hair blew with the wind, his dark blue eyes watched the street ahead of them, and his strong jaw that completed his gorgeous face. Everything mesmerized Lucy.

She scanned his long body and couldn't help but imagine his perfect lean torso. Oh it was lean alright...and Lucy couldn't believe that she had actually spent the day with him on his cozy bed, it was something hard to believe.

This is Gray Fullbuster we're talking about, Fairy Tail's exhibitionist, he was her teammate, the guy that always fought over the dumbest things with Natsu and ended up destroying buildings and even the guild. He was the guy that showed to be able to attract the girls ever since the Garuna Island incident. He even had Juvia all over him, always claiming to be in love with him.

Lucy groaned at the thought of Juvia.

What would she say if she found out about this? Better yet, what would she DO to her if she found out?!

Lucy shuddered at the thought of Juvia trying to drown her.

Lucy felt someone hold her hand and turned and saw Gray holding her hand as they walked.

He wasn't facing her and he still wore an unreadable expression.

"Just trying to keep you from falling." He murmured.

Lucy's tense futures relaxed and a soft smile formed on her lips.

"We're here." Lucy heard Gray announce after a few more minutes of walking.  
They stopped in front of Lucy's apartment, she glanced at Gray and smiled awkwardly. "Uh..Thanks."

He frowned slightly and tilted his head. Lucy couldn't help thinking he looked cute just by doing that. "For what?"

"For...everything?"

His hand came to her face and with a smooth move he gently took a strangle of her blonde hair and tucked it behind her ear. She stared at him adoringly. If he did this to any girl he wouldn't be single. Lucy still couldn't believe that she had been his first.

She took in a deep breath and looked away from his magnifying eyes.

"So uh, bye." She was about to reach for the door but instead she found herself being pulled against his strong chest as his lips crashed onto hers. She sighed and responded, giving him the same hunger as his. His tongue made a way in her mouth and she shivered by the taste of it.

She was so close to wrapping her arms around his neck when he pulled away with a smirk on his face. "See you tomorrow at the guild."

The guild... She didn't even know what would happen when they met at the guild. Would he act like he usually did around her? Will he approach her again? Would they do it again?

She knew that things between them weren't a permanent thing. It was just great sex on a one night stand. But she smiled anyway. "Yeah."

She gave him a quick peck on the lips and stepped away from him. As he walked away Lucy couldn't help but to think how good he was in bed. She could of sworn he had practically had many practice with hundreds of girls, but she had to believe him, after all he did say she was his first. It was hard to believe that he was a beginner of these sexual things, just like her.

* * *

Lucy walked on the ledge by the river with Plue beside her. Her mind filled with thoughts concerning Gray.

Once she stepped inside the rowdy guild the memories from last night came to her. She remembered mostly everything, except when Gray took her away from the guild.

Guild members greeted Lucy as she made her way through the guild and walked straight towards the bar counter. She answered to their greetings with a smile and once she found a seat at the counter sat down and laid her head down on the counter.

"Are you feeling better, Lucy?" The blonde mage raised her head and found a concerned looking Mira standing in front of her.

"Yeah, Im feeling much better, Mira." Lucy answered.

Mira frowned a bit and nodded. She had a feeling something had happened last night. Just by seeing how different Lucy looked she was sure something HAD happened last night. She would just have to wait for Lucy to tell her.

Mira looked at Lucy as she plopped her head back down on the counter. The girl looked tired and like she had stayed up all night.

The barmaid prepared her favorite celestial mage a strawberry shake and placed it in front of the blonde.

Hearing the noise the glass had made once Mira placed it on the counter the blonde raised her head and raised an eyebrow.

"Drink up. Im sure it'll do you good. Its on me so don't worry." Mira sweetly smiled at the blonde.

Lucy smiled and thanked her. She heard someone call Mira, who excused herself and went to tend other members. Lucy sat alone at the counter as she drank up her smoothie.

"Jeez..Yesterday was quite a long day. I got damn hangover thanks to stupid Natsu.. The kid can really drink." Cana took a seat next to Lucy with a bottle in hand.

Lucy turned towards Cana and raised an eyebrow. "Did he win? The drinking contest?"

Cana chuckled and shook her head. "Of course he did not! He ended up passing out. Poor Lisanna had to take him home. Do you think she got laid?" Cana asked with a smirk.

Lucy looked away and shrugged. It was hard to imagine dense Natsu doing anything like that. He barely knew about kissing, and he still questioned it, so its quite unbelievable to think of him having sex.

"I really don't think so..."

Cana hummed. "Well someone in that party must have gotten laid. The majority of the guild members left drunk..Something must have happened...Wait...did you?"

Lucy choked on her smoothie and placed the glass down on the counter.

_Act casual, Lucy, act casual._

She turned towards Cana and gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about?" She sounded confused, right? Well...maybe?

Cana raised an eyebrow. "By the look of your walk earlier and the way you smiled when you walked around the guild, I guessed the party had done some good to you, guess I'm wrong.." She said with a cheeky smile. She took a gulp of her bottle and laid her head down, saying something about feeling drunk.

Lucy didn't know how her walk was supposed to be...hell; she didn't even know she was smiling. She cleared her voice and was about to say something to her when a high- pitched voice got her attention. Or the attention of the whole guild.

"Lu-chan!"

Lucy turned around and saw Levy running towards her.

"Levy-chan."

"We need to talk, Lu-chan.'"

Lucy raised an eyebrow as she felt Levy hold her arm and pulled her away from the counter.

Levy sat her down on a table and took a seat in front of Lucy.

"What happened last nigh? I didn't see you during the party and when I asked Cana she only answered that you had left the guild drunk, with a guy. She said she couldn't really tell who it was..What happened at the party? And don't lie, Lu-chan, you know you can trust me." Levy asked the blonde looking at her straight in the eyes.

Lucy looked down and bit her lip.

"This might be a long story so lets talk about this another time-"

"Lu-chan!"

"-and it's not that big of a deal anyway-"

"Lucy!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, you're yelling too much.."

Lucy looked away from Levy.

How was she supposed to say this? 'Well Levy-chan, I actually lost my virginity the other night. You know who took it? Who? Well it was Gray. The one and only, Gray Fullbuster. The worst part is that he's my teammate and friend. No wait, the worst part is that I want to have sex again with him so badly I think I could probably do it right here at the guild.'

Imagine what Levy would say if Lucy actually said that?

Seeing as Lucy was silent, Levy cleared her throat. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"I will I just don't know how to start."

"How about when you were gone from my side at the party?"

Lucy sighed. "Fine." Lucy finally faced her. "Remember when you were flirting with Gajeel and you were practically ignoring me?"

Lucy saw her smile at thin air. "Y-Yeah." She stuttered with a deep blush covering her cheeks.

Lucy guessed the party had done her good as well.

"Well, I got bored at just siting there and decided to go to the bar counter. Cana was there and was just starting a drinking contest. She dragged me into it and I ended up drinking a bit too much. I felt sick and went to the bathroom.. I don't really remember what happened after that..I just felt someone pick me up and carry me out the guild. And..."

"And...?" Lucy could see Levy was really curious.

"And.." Lucy closed her eyes. "Wehadsex." She blurted out with her eyes still closed. She could swear her cheeks were burning like crazy from the embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Lucy opened her eyes and looked at Levy. "Levy-chan, don't you get it?" Lucy glanced around the guild, in case someone heard them. And well, she also checked to see if Gray was anywhere around the guild, but it seemed like he hadn't arrived just yet.

She leaned closer to Levy and she whispered the words she thought she would never ever have to say (not for now anyway). "I lost my V-card."

Lucy wished she had a camera with her. The look on Levy's face was just too funny! Her eyeballs were like trying to escape from her eyes and her jaw dropped to the floor, making her mouth look so big that Lucy could bet her fist could fit in there. She shook her head and closed her mouth, opened it, closed it again, and smacked her hand. Was it so surprising that Lucy had lost her virginity?

"How the hell did it happen-?"

Lucy flinched at Levy's change of character.

"W-Well you see; if a guy and a girl happen to have sexual desires-"

Levy glared at Lucy and hit the table. "Lu-chan, you know what I mean!"

Lucy broke eye contact and looked away. "Unfortunately, I do know what you mean."

"Tell me how it happened! Oh god, I'm so happy for you!" She stood up and rushed to Lucy's side, hugging her tightly once she sat next to the blonde.

Lucy pushed her away and gave her her best 'what-the-hell-look'.

"What?" Lucy screeched. Yes, screeched. The blonde couldn't believe it herself.

"Well, you see, I'm just happy for you! Finally, my 17 year old best friend has lost her virginity!" She clapped her hands shamelessly.

"Levy-chan! Shhh!" Lucy looked around the guild and saw that everyone was pretty busy doing their own thing that they didn't hear what Levy had said.

"Didn't you just hear me? I was drunk! I didn't know what I was doing! This guy could of even taken advantage of my state and raped me!"

Levy rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. "You really think someone would do that?"

"Yes!"

She gave Lucy a look and ignored the blonde. "Whatever. Now, now, tell me everything! Did you like it?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Well..kind of." Of course Lucy was lying. She new it had been great. Too great.

"So you do remember..? So you weren't drunk that night?"

Lucy sighed. Was Levy going to question everything? She wasn't going to stop, was she? Yeah, she wasn't...

"I was pretty drunk, yeah. But then the next morning I was pretty sober that we did it again, and again. And..." Lucy saw Levy's jaw drop again. "...again."

"Wow...just, wow." She nodded her head at the thought of who could be Lucy's mystery man before looking back up at the blonde. "Wait, who is he? Its a he right?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. Then again..she was dreading that question. Lucy looked anywhere but Levy's eyes. "Oh it's nobody."

Levy eyed the celestial spirit mage. "It's somebody I know, isn't it? He's from the guild, right?"

"Nope." Lucy glanced at her feet.

"Oh come on, Lu-chan. You're such a bad liar."

"Levy-chan, he's no-"

"Oh look, Gray finally arrived at the guild and he's coming this way." Levy told the blonde.

Lucy froze. What. the. Hell? What was she supposed to do now? She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before she opened them and bravely turned around.

_Relax, he's just going to pass by and act like he usually does. Calm down, Lucy, just try and not make eye contact. Forget that he has a gorgeous piece of ass. No! Don't picture his nice naked ass. Lucy, stop it-  
_  
"Lucy."

Lucy looked up at him and felt her heart brake into tiny little pieces . He looked as hot as ever.

Wait..since when did she think he was HOT!

She couldn't believe she slept with him four times in two days. He looked at Lucy in the eyes and ignored that everyone around them seemed to be staring at them. Lucy felt uneasy when she saw a certain blue haired water mage glaring at her from behind a wooden pillar. Lucy gulped and looked away from Juvia and her eyes caught Gray's. Gray wore a stupid smirk..Or should she say sexy smirk?

_Get a grip, Lucy!_

Lucy heard Levy clear her throat and finally but oh so slowly, Gray dragged his deep blue eyes away from Lucy and glanced at Levy.

"Oh, hi Levy."

"Hey Gray!" Levy's voice was bubbly as ever.

Gray looked back at Lucy and flashed her a smile before leaving the blonde in confusion. Levy looked at her with curiosity. Lucy felt her cheeks blush for no reason and felt like going home and hiding herself under the covers of her bed.

Levy called the blonde but she was ignored.

Lucy was about to stand up and leave the guild but felt someone drag her towards the guild's bathrooms.

"Levy-chan!" The blonde whined as her best friend let go of her once in the bathroom. Lucy walked passed her but she was pulled again.

"Oh no you don't!" Levy shouted and made the blonde face her.

Levy wore a confused,serious, and mad expression. Lucy folded her arms. "What do you want?"

Levy seemed much more confused. "You...Gray...he...you guys..was he..HIM?!"

Yeah if Lucy was in her place, she would of been speechless as well.

The blonde sighed and closed her eyes for the many times. Was it that big of a deal that she had slept with Gray? That Levy being her best friend found it crazy and shocking that she had slept with the guy? That she never thought the blonde would loose her virginity so fast?

Actually, yes.

But Levy was her best friend and she trusted her. If she was going to tell anyone, it would be Levy. She had to tell at least someone.

"I...yeah.." Lucy admitted finally.

She heard Levy gasp for a second but heard her voice become a pitch higher than earlier.

"Lucy Heartfilia, tell me DETAILS! NOW!" She commanded.

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A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviewed, favorite, and followed this story! Hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers! Thanks for reading!

~IceKeys121


	3. Chapter 3

**_More Than Friends, Less_** **_Than Lovers_**

**Chapter 3~**

Lucy submerged in her bathtub, to the point were you could only see her eyes. Yesterday wasn't her day at all. She had to explain everything to Levy and felt really embarrassed when Levy made her tell her every single detail. The girl might look innocent but she really wasn't.

Lucy stepped out of the bath and dried herself. She walked up to a mirror and stared at her naked self. Was she appealing or had she been overconfident of herself all these years?

Lucy blushed as she remembered the way Gray had touched her. How his deep blue eyes stared up and down her body, praising her beauty.

The blonde brushed her hair and placed the brush down, only to run a hand over her pink lips. Gray's kisses still lingering in the back of her mind.

She walked out of the bathroom, only wearing a towel around her body and walked over to her closet.

Once she was all dressed and ready to head to the guild she checked herself in the mirror and grabbed her keys before walking out of her apartment.

As she stepped out of her apartment and started making her way towards the guild the first thing she caught was a pair of deep blue eyes.

Well actually she wasn't really looking around since she was mumbling how life was so unfair when she crashed into a pair of arms.

People normally crash on a wall or a pole and even if people crash on another person it would probably be their back. But noo, Gray knew Lucy was coming and just had to spread his arms widely.

Lucy didn't like the attention they were getting from the people that walked passed them. She didn't want to get unwanted attention, though she usually was fine with it.

His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her closer to him.

"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed at him and looked around.

"Hugging you?" It came out as a question and Lucy gave him an annoyed look.

She thought everything that had happened between them would be forgotten by today. So why was he hugging her in the middle of the street? Had she mentioned that people walking passed them gave them funny looks? Or commented on what a cute couple they made?

CUTE COUPLE? They were not anything! Just friends.. Just nakama!

Or had they become more than friends? But yet they were still not close to being anything..They definitely were less than lovers.

Lucy pushed him away, which he probably wasn't expecting since his arms were easily off her body. Lucy gave him a disgusted look, which she got a smirk in return. Ugh, what was it with adorable, gorgeous guys and arrogant smirks?

She walked away hurriedly and quickly stormed away, resuming her walk towards the guild. She heard him chuckle and turned around and glared at him.

"You know, I was just trying to greet you. No need to be angry." He murmured as he walked behind her.

Lucy sighed and turned around. "Can't you just say good morning?"

"Nah, that's boring. What fun would I get from that?" Lucy gave him a murderous glare and stomped inside he guild.

Gray followed with a smirk plastid on his face.

Lucy noticed Levy sitting alone in a table and stomped towards her. Lucy cursed and plopped herself on the seat in front of her and closed her eyes, feeling the hateful aura around her. She didn't even know why she was in such a bad mood now. She blamed her damn hormones, she had been fine this morning, even though Gray had lingered in her mind ALL morning. Heck, she had even dreamed of him! She couldn't take it anymore..

Then yesterday hadn't been any better than today. She had to tell everything that happened with Gray to Levy. And it really was EVERYTHING, every single detail. The more she said what she thought about Gray out loud, the more she thought about a lot of things.

First, the more she listen to herself repeat the events that happened after the party the more she thought how weird it sounded. It seemed like..too good to be true. Yeah, she knew it DID actually happen but she still felt as if everything was just a dream. Like, come on, she had been Gray Fullbuster's first time. He had been HER first time! The guy that was dense enough to never notice when girls flirted with him. The guy that could have as many girls as Loke but chose not to. For heavens sake! He had Juvia always throwing herself at him, always reaping how much she loved her 'Gray-sama'. And yet he never seemed to care or notice her affection. He could have any girl and he chose her.

Lucy rested her head on her palm and sighed. "I wish I hadn't joined that damn drinking contest and hadn't gotten drunk." She thought out loud.

"Well look at the bright side, he's someone you know and he's a close friend of yours. Its better than losing it to someone you don't know. And you're finally not a vir-"

Lucy glared at her. "How is that supposed to be good thing?"

"Well you took long enough, you know? Like even I already lost it. And-"

"I was talking about me losing my virginity to Gray! How is that good." Lucy exclaimed.

"Oh, that. Well its better to know who you lost your virginity too then just losing it to someone you don't even know their name." Lucy sighed and took a piece of Levy's muffin. Damn it! Because of him she had forgotten to make herself breakfast. God, she really needed to stop thinking about him so much.

Levy leaned over the table and looked at Lucy in the eyes, something she usually did when she was going to say something important that had just popped in her mind. "Hey do you know what I think?"

Lucy took another piece of her muffin. "I'm guessing I won't like this."

"You should sleep with him again." She stated with a grin as if it was a normal thing to say.

Lucy kind of chocked on the muffin and started coughing. What the hell was she thinking? Lucy patted her chest helplessly and looked around the guild hoping nobody heard her. "Are you kidding me?"

Levy rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "Nope, think about it. You're new about the sex thing, right?"

Lucy nodded and shrugged. Where was she going with this?

"Well it would be great! You could learn all the stuff from him and you could toy with each other and live happily ever after!"

Lucy gaped at her. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"Hey I was saying what I was thinking!" She grinned at the blonde.

"Then don't."

Lucy saw her push her food aside and clear her throat before she pouted her lips at her and raised her brows at the blonde. "Oh come on, don't you ever think what it would feel like to have sex with him again? What it would really feel like to feel him inside of you again..?"

Lucy gasped as her cheeks turned into various kinds of red. "Levy-chan!"

"You know you can't lie when it comes to this."

Lucy groaned loudly. "You're not going to stop, are you?"

"Nope." She chipped with a devilish grin on her face. Ugh, what the hell had Lucy gotten herself into? The blonde shook her head at her attitude before standing up and making her way to Mira to get some food.

* * *

Gray watched as Lucy walked towards the counter with her hips swaying around. He smiled at himself and couldn't help but imagine her smooth ass on his bed.

He still remembered completely the day he had already woken up and watched Lucy fall off his bed. Heck, he could still remember the night when he was getting a drink at Mira's party and saw Lucy walk in with Levy wearing a short black skirt and a blue tank top and how her short blonde hair danced around her back. He remembered the looks she had gotten from most of the guys in the guild once she made her way inside the guild.

Everyone was used to seeing Lucy wearing those tips of clothing, even Gray. But that night she was revealing so much skin that Gray wanted to taste and touch just to explore every inch of her curves. When he made his drunken mind through the crowd and tried looking for her, he ended up finding out that the blonde had gotten drunk and had ran off to the bathroom. He decided to take her home. However, his drunken self wasn't in the right mind and they ended up at his apartment. Seeing the blonde say it was hot and start taking off her clothes only turned him on more and made a part of him go crazy with want.

If she wasn't so drunk Gray knew she would of not wanted to have sex with him, drunk or not, he wanted her that badly. Never had he imagined that the bubbly celestial spirit mage would look amazingly naked in his arms. Lucy was the type of girl who had a great face and great body but at times chose to hide it behind those thick books; even Gray knew she would look hot with anything. He knew she was confident about her looks and her sexual appeal, and maybe she was aware that her unique looks could kill a guy's heart. Well they had killed his heart for sure.

He always had his eyes on her but he would always shrug it away, it wasn't that important. He never thought of having a sexual relationship with her every time they crossed paths. But when he thrusted inside of her and heard her groan as pain revealed on her face, his heart ached at the thought of hurting her. It wasn't a surprise that she was a virgin because he kind of expected that. When he finally felt that she had already calmed down, he moved into her in a slower pace as he watched her face of pain turn into a mix of excitement and pleasure. This made him go wild as he thrusted into her deeper and faster, liking every sound that came out of her mouth.

And deep down he knew he wanted to do it again. He was craving for her every second and nobody knew what he was feeling every time somebody called up her name in a conversation.

"Watch it, Gray." Natsu warned as he leaned on the table.

Gray gave him a look. "What are you talking about?"

"You like Lucy." He blurted out with narrowed eyes.

Gray was shocked. Really? Was he too obvious that even Natsu, dense, stupid, and childish Natsu could tell? Well the idiot knew him well enough so it wasn't too much of a shocker that he would end up noticing.

"And if I did, why would you care?" Gray asked nonchalantly.

"Because it's you." Natsu bluntly answered.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "What about me?" Gray grinned. He found it amusing that people gave him a bad reputation when it came to girls. Like he gave a damn.. He never understood why people thought he was a player. Was it because he was close friends with Loke? Or maybe because he usually went along with Loke to pick up girls? However, he never actually did anything with any girl. He would go on dates with them, maybe kiss them, but thats as far as it went. He didn't lie to Lucy when he told her she was his first.

"I don't know..I just don't think your suitable for Lucy. Like, you two don't match." Natsu answered. He scrunched his face as he tried thinking of more reasons.

"I have to disagree with you on that, Natsu. I think they do match." Erza commented. She was sitting down on the same table with the two boys. She had stayed quite for a while but decided to speak up and give her own opinion.

"So you think Im not suitable..Then are you suitable for her?" Gray asked with a smirk. Knowing that Erza was on his side made him have the upper hand, or so he thought.

Natsu scrunched his nose. "No...I don't like Lucy so I don't see myself as a candidate. She's just my best friend and partner thats why I care for her."

Gray sighed. "Well I don't like Lucy either so don't get weird ideas."

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "You're lying."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"I said no, ash brain!"

"You're just in denial, ice princes!"

They were now standing up and their foreheads were pressed to each other, both wearing deathly glares.

Erza stood up and punched both of them in the face, making them fall to ground.

She sighed an sat back down and resumed eating her strawberry cheese cake.

The two boys sat on the ground holding their bruised cheeks and glaring at each other.

They both stood up and took their seats. "You know, you've been staring at Lucy this whole time. Its quite obvious." Natsu stated as he took a seat in front of Gray.

The raven haired man looked away annoyed. "No I wasn't."

"Your eyes followed her everywhere she went. Are you telling me that you don't like her but just like to stalk her? You perv.."

"My eyes weren't following her! I'm not a stalker and stop calling me a pervert! Squinty ey-" He stopped when he saw Lucy by the bar counter talking to a guy. He looked closer and realized that she was actually talking to..Loke?

Huh.

Well, Loke was one of Gray's closest friends. He was Fairy Tail's biggest player, quite the womanizer. However, he had shown to care for Lucy and always stated his love for his 'princess'. It always irritated Gray when he would open his own gate and come and pick Lucy up her feet to try and take her out on dates. Point is, he didn't like the closeness between Loke and Lucy.

Before, Gray would of just not cared about Loke flirting with Lucy, he would of just shrugged it off and mind his own business. But now as he watched the two exchange smiles he felt himself frown.

"They Liiiiiiiiiiiiike each other." Happy rolled his tongue as he flew around Lucy and Loke.

Thats what set Gray off. Without realizing it a pang of jealousy hit inside of him, he changed the frown into a mad scowl. "I don't have any interest in Lucy."

Natsu smirked. "Yeah?"

"Yes, now stop annoying me."

Natsu raised an eyebrow and followed Gray's gaze. A grin spread through his face and he started laughing.

"Your jealous! Of Loke!" Natsu exclaimed.

Gray's eyebrows twitched with annoyance and he punched Natsu on the face, only to get a murderous glare form Erza.

"You should control your jealousy, Gray. It's not good to take it out on your friends." Erza told him as she took another bite from her cake.

Gray mumble that he wasn't jealous and looked over at Lucy. He glared at the couple across the room once again.

"Get your ass up and ask her out on a date, droopy eyes! You're not going to get the girl if you just sit here and glare at Loke."

Gray turned over to Natsu and gave him a confused look. "First of all, Im not glaring at Loke and I don't like Lucy. Second of all, do you even know what a date is?"

Natsu glared at him. "Of course I know! I'm not as stupid as you think I am.." He mumble the last part.

Erza sighed and moved her plate to the side. "He's smarter than he looks, Gray."

"Yeah! Wait...What's that suppose to mean?!"

Gray sighed at Natsu's stupidity and glanced at Lucy, who was still with Loke. Ugh, that bastard was still talking to her. Lucy turned towards Gray and her brown orbs locked with his.

He smiled at her and he noticed a small shade of red decorate her cheeks. She was blushing? Because of him? For some weird reason, he wanted to be sure he wasn't the only one that was aware of the attraction between them.

He looked over at Erza and the stupidest idea popped up. Yet, it was the only way he could prove his theory.

He brought his hand up to his mouth and stifled his 'yawn'. He raised his hand into the air behind him as part of his fake stretching post-yawn.

Without thinking of the consequences, he brought his arm back down and sneaked it around Erza's shoulder.

Natsu placed a hand over his mouth, trying really hard to keep his laughter from coming.

Erza slowly turned over to Gray and gave him a confused look. "Gray, what are you doing?"

"Um...I-I" Erza gave him an annoyed glare and the next thing Gray knew he landed on the ground with a big bruise on his face, Natsu's laughter filling his ears.

Erza stood up and stomped away from the table mumbling that that's what she gets for trying to socialize with idiots.

"I didn't know Erza was your type. Are you a masochist?" Natsu asked in between laughs.

Gray stood up and glared at Natsu. He noticed Lucy looking his way giggling. Happy sat over her head and was pointing a paw at him. Loke was no where near them, and Gray guessed he had gone back to the spirit world.

"He Liiiiiiiiiikes her." This only made the blonde giggle more. However, her eyes didn't look as bright as they usually did. Was there a twinge of jealousy in them? She was jealous, right?

Gray smirked with triumph. He might have gotten a damn bruise on his cheek but it was worth it.

Wait...

Why was he happy of the possibility of Lucy having feelings for him?!

Natsu's laughs irritated him and he punched him and sent him flying to the other side of the guild, making him fall over Gajeel. The two dragon slayers started a new brawl, which soon caused the whole guild to go wild. However, the idiots had forgotten that the Titania was at the guild and soon the two dragon slayers laid in the middle of the guild, unconscious.

He sat back down irritated. He didn't even know why he was getting angry now. The thought of having any feelings at all for Lucy made him...jumpy all of a sudden.

He walked over to the bar counter and took a seat next to Cana.

"Have you seen Lucy?" He asked once he noticed the blonde was no where to be found.

"She just left with Levy. They said something about a book." Cana answered.

Gray sighed and ordered some food.

He heard Cana talking to Mira and other guild members joining the conversation but couldn't really tell what they were talking about, he just couldn't concentrate.

What was wrong with him? He wanted to get up and find Lucy and wrap his arms around her perfect body. He missed her scent. He groaned, '_missed_'? He had never missed a women before, well except Ur who was a motherly figure to him and had passed away many years ago, but that was totally a different situation. He didn't just say he missed Lucy, did he?

No, he didn't.

Yes, he did.

No.

Yes.

Crap.

He shook his head...No wait, of course he missed her. He just missed the sex. Yes, that was it. Just the sex. Only the sex, nothing more, he assured. He sighed and began to eat his food.

The rest of the day Gray tried to find out where Lucy was. He had no luck, well that was until Levy showed up at the guild later that day. She told him Lucy had headed home.

Gray made his way out of the guild and walked over to Lucy's apartment. As he walked towards her apartment he spotted Lucy's short blonde hair. She was walking a few steps in front of him. He noticed she was wearing a white tank top and a pink short skirt. It fitted her curvy body perfectly while her hair bounced around her back and shoulders. He was aware people were now staring at her. That outfit showed too much cleavage. But then again, all her outfits showed too much cleavage and gained the attention of many males. This of course irritated Gray.

She looked happy as ever but Gray could tell there was something different about her. She looked stressed and annoyed. It also looked like she hadn't been sleeping enough. Deep inside he felt like he had to do with her stress and lack of sleep but he just shrugged it off. Gray had never cared for a girl this much and it was scaring the shit out off him.

It was just sexual attraction; he reminded himself again and again.

He rushed over to her and dragged her over to her apartment even though she was struggling in his grip. "Gray!"

He ignored her and closed the door and pressed his body to hers on the now closed door. He started to nibble her neck, giving her light kisses as he felt her arching her back towards his touches. Oh god, she was so sexy. He missed her smell and how she moaned every time he tasted her skin.

"Stop it!" Lucy tried to push him away but he was of course much stronger. He could feel her tensing in his arms. Gray kept on giving light kisses on the sensitive spot on her neck just below her ear.

"Please Gray, stop." She was begging but Gray wanted to feel her, afraid that the desire for her was too big for his own good. With a final hard push, Gray finally stopped and locked into her piercing brown eyes. He could read her confusion, furious, and desire expression in her eyes.

"I've missed you." He announced. Yes, only the sex.

"Well I don't, so get out of my apartment." It wounded him a little bit but he still kept her where she was. "What do you want Gray?"

"You."

Lucy sneered at him."Oh stop it. It seemed like you didn't want me at the guild."

He smirked at her. "Were you jealous?"

She went silent for a while before answering a heavy no. He smiled and pressed his hips on hers roughly, she could feel herself going weak. "Well you were talking to Loke."

"Is that why you tried that stupid move on Erza?" She asked, not believing him. Why would he be jealous of Loke?

Gray looked away embarrassed.

"Yes."

She eyed him warily. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not." He gave her a crook grin.

Lucy groaned in frustration. "Well there's nothing to be jealous about! Loke is my spirit and I don't have feelings for him."

"Well it irritated me to see him so close to you." Gray shrugged and kissed hr lightly on her lips. She pulled away quickly and rested her hands on his chest. She slowly looked up to meet his eyes and sighed heavily.

"See? You and I will never work. It was just a fling and we have to stop this."

Gray pressed his body closer to hers again, very aware of the heat that was growing between their bodies. "Why do we have to stop this?"

"Just..cause." She stated and tried to push him again harder. Of course, she tried.

"What? Tell me." He demanded softly.

She stared into his eyes for a while, trying to figure out the boy in front of her. She sighed a moment later. "I..well...you see, I don't want to go any further than this." She bit her lip slightly. "I don't want to ruin our friendship." She stated while avoiding eye contact.

"Well it's not like you love me, right?"

"Of course not!"

"But you enjoy the sex?"

"Uh..yes?" She blushed at how embarrassed she felt now.

He lifted her chin and stared into her beautiful brown eyes. "So let me get this straight, you don't want anything serious but you still enjoy the sex?"

She was getting annoyed by every second that passed by. "Do I really have to explain this again?"

He smiled, his oh so gorgeous smile. He thought the very same thing and didn't want to let go of what they had even though it was just sex. He got closer to her ear and whispered,

"Ever heard of friends with benefits?"

She gasped.

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviewed, favorite and followed this story! Hope you enjoyed chapter 3 of More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers! Thanks for reading!

~IceKeys121


	4. Chapter 4

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers _**

**_Chapter 4~_**

Lucy yawned as she cleaned her dish plate, her red eyes stared at her hands as they washed the dirty plate. Her hair was up on a messy bun, gray circles showed under her eyes, the girl hadn't been able to sleep all night. Thoughts on what had happened with Gray yesterday couldn't leave her mind. His question, her answer, and what had happened after kept repeating in her mind.

After she finished cleaning all the plates, she walked over to turn off the stove and stopped the noisy sound from the kettle. She purred down the tea she made into a her mug, the smell filling the kitchen. She sat down on her kitchen table and sipped the tea carefully, scared it would be too hot.

She placed the mug down and wrapped her hand around the mug, feeling her hands warm up with the heat from the mug. She sighed and looked down at her tea. She still remembered all the crazy ideas that had popped in her head after she had processed, repeated, and understood the question Gray had made to her. However, she never imagined she would had fallen for it so easily. You probably think she should have just answered a quick yes. After all, no girl would be stupid enough to pass the opportunity to be with Gray, right? Well, Lucy thought being friends with benefits was a crazy idea, and even now, after she had accepted to it, she still believed it was a crazy idea..

Let's go back to when Gray asked that special question to Lucy~

Lucy stood in front of Gray looking dumbfounded. If Levy had been around she had probably yelled at Lucy, 'Answer the question! Say Yes!' but, thankfully, she wasn't around. To Lucy this whole idea was absurd! It was the first time she was having trouble to answer a question. She could handle any kind of question involving anything she had learned from all her reading, but this question? To think and consider about it was more than wrong. It just didn't make sense to her. She was ready to forget everything that had happened between Gray and her, ready to act normal, like her usual self, and continue with her normal life.

But..why was he hugging her tighter now that she almost couldn't breath? They were so close that all she could smell was his cologne and his husky scent. This wasn't a good thing.

Why wouldn't he just leave her in peace? He could have any girl he wanted! So why did he chose her?! His teammate, his friend! Why did he chose her to try his experiment of 'friends with benefits' thing? Ugh, the sound of it was crazy to Lucy. Having casual sex with somebody without involving any emotional feelings? Nothing good was gonna come from this.. She just knew one of them would end up developing feelings for the other, and she feared it would end up being her.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She whispered quietly. Lucy looked up and felt his breath on her cheek; his face was so near that she got the urge to kiss the tip of his nose. Of course she didn't, that would be a stupid thing to do at the moment.

"What am I doing to you?" He smirked and slowly planted a kiss on the corner of her lips, lingering a hot feeling towards her body. Lucy gasped at the contact of his hips that seemed to thrust on her harder. He looked at her in the eyes with a naughty smile of his face and whispered in her ear, "So what do you say?"

Lucy sighed and closed her eyes. "I don't get it."

"Don't get what?" He asked as he lazily laid his eyes on her lips.

"Why..me? You could probably have any girl you'd want, yet you're here asking me.. You could have even asked Juvia.. I'm sure you know how she feels about you and that she will be more than willing to become friends with benefits with you.."

He didn't answer for a while, just lazily stepped away from her and sat on her couch with a straight face. She could've made a run for it and stormed out of her apartment and gone off to the guild but she thought better and stayed where she was, leaning on the wall in front of Gray with arms crossed. "And your point is?" He asked after a moment of silence.

Lucy took a very deep breath before she braved herself to look into his eyes. "Well, to be honest...I thought that.. whatever happened between us the other day, well stayed there. I thought it would be forgotten by now, both of us moving on and forgetting that it ever happened.. Do you know what I mean?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Honestly? No."

She sighed in defeat and decided to walk over to him. "As far as I'm concerned, I thought that what happened between us was over. Wait, what am I saying? Gray, nothing even started between us."

"So you're saying that the day we spent together was...well, did not satisfy you?" He was mocking her; Lucy was hatting him for doing that. "You're kind of hurting my pride here, Lucy."

"Gray, I just said that I enjoyed the sex between us a while ago!" Her cheeks felt warmer as she registered what she had just said. "I can't believe I just said that again.." She mumbled quietly before she looked back towards Gray, who was looking at her in a funny way. He thought this was amusing?

Lucy shook her head quickly. "The point is that you have to leave me alone. I realized that you could easily forget me..especially when you have Juvia already on your tow."

He rolled his eyes at her. "I don't have any feelings towards Juvia and you know that.. I may act stupid but I know that she has feelings towards me and that she stalks me most of the time.. Or all of the time, which creeps the hell out of me." He made a face which Lucy would of laughed at if she wasn't feeling so pissed at him.

"I don't care, Gray. I actually believe Juvia might be the right girl for you.. I'm not too sure if I want to ruin things between us. Please, just stop acting like this and leave me alone...Okay?"

"I think you're right for me.." It came out as a very soft and quite whisper but Lucy heard it. Her heart speeded up and her cheeks felt warmer. Her mouth became dry and she couldn't think of anything to say. He hadn't answered her question and just merely watched her as she tried not to look into his eyes. She crossed her arms underneath her breasts. "Are we done? Can you please leave now?"

He drifted his eyes back to her face. "All I'm asking is that do you really want '_us_' to be done? Because I know that I don't."

"What is '_us_'? Is there even anything between _us_?" Lucy asked after the words he said to her sunk in her head. He wanted..something to be going on between them? Something more than just friendship? She felt her heartbeat quickening.

He ran a hand through his messy hair and looked away. "Look, I don't know Lucy. I'm just.. I don't know. I think.." He sighed. "I really don't know."

She held his gaze. "Then what is it that you know?"

He looked at her softly, an expression that Lucy didn't know he was capable of making. "All I know is that I want.. well, that I want you, all of you. But to be more precise, I want your body. To make you mine over and over again. Only mine."

Lucy gaped at his bluntness. She stayed quite as she looked into those beautiful blue eyes of his that always seemed to hypnotize her. His lips twitched into a sad smiled as he straightened himself and continued. "What's so wrong about it?"

Lucy snapped at him. "Everything is wrong about it. What would people say about this?" She asked him in a voice that seemed harsher than she had intended it to be. She couldn't even trust her voice know, could she?

He motioned his shoulders into a small shrug. "Then nobody has to know."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Why would I be joking around? I wouldn't be joking around, and less if it involves sex and, well, you." That last couple of words were a faint whisper that Lucy wasn't able to catch, making her go in range, believing he only cared about the sex.

Sex. That's what he wanted all along. He was just a typical teenage guy, that in Lucy's mind, only wanted her to be his sex toy so he could fulfill his needs. She didn't even know if she should feel flattered that he wanted her to be the one on his bed or disgusted that he thought of her in such perverted ways. He reached her hand and grabbed it, pulling her into his strong chest as his arms captured her waist.

All of a sudden she found herself standing between his strong legs with his arms around her. She shivered at the touch he made on her body. He captured her lips with his and whispered to her quietly, "Come on, Lucy. What could go wrong?"

What could go wrong?

Well...everything.

What if someone found out? What if Natsu or Erza found out or anyone from the guild? What would they say? Well for one thing, she knew Levy would be thrilled to hear this. Even worse, what if it gets serious? What if.. she falls for Gray? Like.. in love?

Wow, love? What was she thinking? There's was no way she would, right? Well..she at least hopped.

Gray did what she had wanted to do before to him when he moved forward and kissed the tip of her nose. He held her closer and for some odd reason she could feel his heart beat going faster. He hugged her tightly as she placed her hands on top of his chest, liking the rhythm of his heartbeat on her palms.

Lucy looked up into his eyes and saw that he was looking at her intently. The lust that clouded in his eyes somehow made Lucy want him more. Whatever her brain wanted her to do, her body always relied towards his touch. In some way.. she had a feeling that sooner or later whatever that would happen between them, if she ran away from him to try and avoid him after this, she had a strong feeling that sex would always come between them.. She just..had that feeling.

Even the sexual tension between them felt really strong now. He dipped his head closer and kissed her much slower than he had ever done before. Lucy felt her toes curling at the sensational feeling he was giving her. The moment she felt his tongue on the bottom of her lips, she opened her mouth freely for him to enter and moaned as she felt their tongues colliding together. His hands were now exploring her body, roaming up and down her back and towards her ass. She moaned louder as he squeezed her ass and pulled her hips closer to him. She felt his arousal harder and couldn't help but to think how her body fit into his perfectly.

He pulled away and leaned his forehead onto hers. Lucy looked anywhere but his eyes and decided to stare at her feet even though she could feel his eyes on her. He dipped his head and trailed small kisses on her jaw line.

"Did you know that sex is a healthy exercise? It burns more calories than any other type of exercise." He whispered as he sucked on a sensitive spot on her neck.

Well, Lucy did not know that..

Lucy was about to do something she never thought she'd be ever doing. She wanted him. She wanted him to touch her again. Her body was aching to feel his touch, his cold, sweet savoring lips on every spot of her curves. To be honest, she couldn't picture herself having sex with any other guy. Maybe this was because Gray took her virginity, she really didn't know. All she knew was that she wanted him inside of her...again.

She didn't have to answer him because as soon as her eyes that were full of desire met his own, he quickly pulled her hand and guided her to her bed.

She couldn't believe she had agreed to this.

Back to present time~

Lucy placed her empty mug on the sink and dragged her feet out of the kitchen and straight to her bedroom. She was worn out, exhausted, and very troubled with everything that had happened yesterday. She wanted to just lay in bed the rest of the day.

"You look like a walking corpse, Lucy."

The blonde turned and found Erza sitting down on her desk with her manuscript in hand. If she hadn't been so tired she probably would had walked over to her and would had taken the manuscript form her..but she was so tired that she just walked straight to bed and plopped herself down.

"Good morning to you too, Erza. And thanks, but believe me, I know very well that I look like crap." Lucy mumbled as she laid in bed.

Erza raised an eyebrow and sighed. She turned to the next page of the story, and just before she continued reading she glanced at Lucy.

"The bags under your eyes are quite a delectable shade of purple. Is it some kind of new makeup shade? If it is, what brand is it?" Erza asked as she started reading and couldn't help but tease the blonde.

"It's called insomnia. Quite a horrible brand." Lucy murmured as she sat up straight.

Erza looked over at Lucy and raised an eyebrow, surprised that Lucy didn't seem the least mad at all her comments.

"Nice.. I might try that some time." Erza continued as she examined the blonde.

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows together and gave the scarlet haired women a weird look.

"Do I honestly look that bad?" She asked.

Erza tried her best not to giggle and only gave a small nod.

Lucy grumbled and quickly stood up and rushed to the bathroom.

"So what's wrong? Couldn't sleep?" Erza asked after she saw a better looking Lucy come out of the bathroom.

"Well, you know, just having trouble sleeping.. It's been like this for a couple of days." Lucy shrugged and walked over to her closet.

Erza put down the manuscript and crossed her arms. "So it's been happening lately, just cuz.. No reason to it?"

"No reason at all." Lucy answered her shortly. She hated it when she had to lie to Erza. They both were always close. When Levy wasn't there Lucy would tell Erza everything that was going on.

"Oh quit the act. You think I'll believe that you having insomnia is just cuz. Theres obviously a boy involved, isn't there?"

Lucy dropped the outfit she was holding and her eyes went wide. "What are you talking about Erza? There's not boy, don't get weird ideas.." Lucy quickly answered, bending down to pick up the clothes she dropped.

"Whats his name?" Erza asked looking straight at Lucy. The blonde bit her lip and turned towards her closet.

"I already told you, theres no boy. I'm just not being able to sleep thats all. It has nothing to do with a guy." Lucy lied.

Erza sighed. "You're a bad lier, you know? Theirs obviously a guy. I read your manuscript, Lucy. The way you describe the main male character makes the reader believe that the actual writer is in love. The way you describe this man, it's like you've finally found your other half." Erza explained. Lucy slowly turned towards Erza, her wide eyes staring at the bunch of papers that Erza held. She stomped towards Erza and took away the manuscript, placing it close to her chest. She let out a nervous giggle and looked away.

"That's.. Y-You've got it wrong.. There's no way I'm in love with anyone. To be in love theres gotta be a guy and there's no guy so I'm not in love with any body and there's no guy." Lucy ranted as she shoved the manuscript in a box.

Erza went silent and nodded slightly afterwards. Lucy thought their talk was over so she walked over to to her bed and placed down the outfit she had chosen for the day. She was about to head over to the kitchen when she heard Erza's voice echo the room. "Are you still a virgin?"

Lucy's face went red as a tomato. Getting this type of question from Erza was..well, beyond embarrassing. She was close to Erza, yeah, but not that close so she could ask her if she was still a virgin or not. Lucy sighed; she had always told Erza she hadn't slept with any guys so she guessed she would act curious now that Lucy actually had inspiration to add good romance into her noble.

Lucy stared at Erza for a while before she looked away. "Erza..."

She nodded firmly at the blonde. "Ah, I see. So.. Who's the lucky guy? Oh please don't tell me you guys did it at the guild? He deserves a serious punishment if you did. That's a horrible place to have your first time taken at.. I've seen some guild members before and it's quite disturbi-"

"Erza!" Lucy rolled her eyes, grabbed her outfit, and walked towards the bathroom. A few minuets later, Lucy walked out of the bathroom dressed and ready to go to the guild.

"So why did you come here so early?" The blonde asked as she walked over to Erza, who was looking through her clothes with blushed cheeks. The blonde took her underwear away from the Titania and saw the scarlet haired women come back to her senses and nod.

"I wanted to ask you to go on a mission. Just the two of us, tomorrow early morning we should be heading out. I'll be coming back again tomorrow morning so I'll be expecting you to be ready by then." She informed the blonde.

Lucy sighed and nodded. "Ok..Will you tell me about the mission as we walk towards the guild?"

"Of course." Erza walked over to the door and walked out, Lucy right behind her with her keys in hand.

* * *

Once Lucy and Erza arrived at the guild, everything seemed and went surprisingly normal.

You'd think having a friends with benefits sort of thing with Fairy Tails exhibitionist would be different( well that's what Lucy thought). But no, he ignored her! Well not completely, but he would only smile at her when no one was looking at them. She knew it was their own little secret but she felt like he didn't want people seeing them together. Like he felt weird of having her hanging out with him at the guild..

She groaned and shook her head, now she was beginning to think weird things.

She hadn't told Levy about the whole 'friends with benefits' situation but the short girl had kept asking how Gray and Lucy were doing. Lucy just shrugged and told her it was just a one night thing and were back to normal, just friends. Levy patted her back sympathetically which made it hard for Lucy to keep her laughter in. Lying to Levy was even harder than lying to Erza.

So as time passed at the guild, Lucy found herself in a table with Levy, Erza, and Cana. And with her weary condition, had no idea of what she was saying most of the time. So when she got asked what she had done the night before, she didn't quite think over the question and answered truthfully. Only to regret it afterwards and have a very awkward silence in the table. After a few seconds of shocked expressions, confusion, and astonishment; Cana asked what they all wanted to know.

"Tell us."

"No."

"Come on, Lu-chan! Just tell us."

"No way."

"Come on.."

"No."

"Tell us!"

"Okay!"

"Really?"

"No."

Lucy giggled. Sometimes, she loved messing with both Cana and Levy.

"I really want to know who it is. Ever since this morning the curiosity hasn't left me and it's bugging me. You have to tell us, Lucy." Erza told the blonde.

Lucy looked over at her and shook her head. "No, I really don't have to."

"You're such a killjoy. You never talk about guys or sex, and then you say something like this and won't tells us who it was with? That's just bitchy," Cana told Lucy. "You're being a total prude."

Lucy gapped at her. "Remind me why I'm friends with you? You just called me a killjoy, bitch, and prude in the span of fifteen seconds."

"Oh come on Lu- chan! Just tells us what happened last night!" Lucy glared at Levy. She obviously knew who it had been with, she just wanted more people to find out about it. But there was no way Lucy would tell Erza or Cana it was Gray.

"No is no!" Lucy yelled exasperated. "I can't believe I was dumb enough to even mention it."

"Well, you were dumb enough," Cana said. God, she's just so wonderful. "So just give us a name, and we'll stop bugging you."

"I'm not going to tell you." Lucy repeated.

"Tell who what?" Natsu asked, joining the girls on the table. He takes a seat next to Erza and looks around the table looking curious about their conversation.

"Nothing." Lucy quickly replies. "It's nothing."

"Whats nothing?" Mira pipes in as she stops to leave their orders. Behind her, Lucy sees Gray make his way towards her with a drink in hand.

Lucy's heartbeats start going like crazy.

Shit, shit, shit..

She needed to change the subject. Now. She need to think of something that would take their minds off the subject. Something interesting.. A fact! Something she had probably read in some interesting book.

"Did you know that a fingernail or toenail takes about six months to a year to grow from base to tip? Or that the thumbnail grows the slowest and the middle nail grows the fastest?"

That wasn't it at all...

Natsu makes a weird face and gives a 'what the fuck look' ,but it's Gray, piping up from behind her, who says what everyone had thought.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Lucy?" He sits down next to Cana placing down his shaved ice on the table.

"She's trying to change the subject." Cana tells him, arching and eyebrow at Lucy.

"Trying to change the subject from what?" Gray asks.

Oh God.

Lucy sees it happening in slow motion, the words leaving Levy's mouth like Jet running at full speed, trying not to hit anything.

"Lu-chan told us she had quite a night last night. The best she's ever had, if you get what I mean." Levy said as she wiggled her eyebrows. A teasing smile playing on her lips. "However, she doesn't want to say who it was with." Cana continued.

Lucy wished Jet could come, pick her up, and take her home in a matter of seconds.

"Actually, it's 'whom'." Levy corrects.

"Shut up, Levy." Cana blurts out.

Gray turned towards Lucy, his blue eyes bright and blazing. It reminded her of the night before when he took her shirt off. Her stomach twists and the feeling is not as unpleasant as it sounds.

And then he smirks. "Really? Best night she's ever had, huh?"

"Yeah. She said they did it three times." Erza informs him, a dark blush covering her cheeks.

"In one night?!" Mira asks. "Three time what? I really am confused.. Did they play the same game three times in a row or something?" Natsu asked, question marks popping next to his head.

Mira patted his shoulder. "Yeah.. That's it."

Natsu looks over at Lucy and gives her a weird look. "Is that what you were so scared of telling us? You're such a weirdo Lucy.. Who plays the same game three times in a row?"

Lucy glared at him. "Alright, alright, shut up already." Lucy mutters.

"Lucy I really want to know who this guy is.. Whoever it is he should get quite the punishment for taking your virginity before marriage." Erza tells Lucy with a stern face. At this Gray flinched and looks like he has just been told the date of his death.

Lucy sighs and looks around the table. "Okay, this episode of sex is over. New topic!"

"You know we'd shut up if you just told us who he was." Cana comments with a shrug and Erza and Mira nod in agreement.

Lucy sighed, no, they really wouldn't.

Realizing that if she says the name he would be getting as much trouble as Lucy was at the moment, Gray pops in and says, "Whatever, guys. She'll tell us when she wants to tell us."

Lucy shot him a grateful smile, and he holds her eyes for a bit longer than he usually needs to, a bit longer than he normally does. Her stomach flips again.

After that everyone seemed to go back to what they were doing before, Erza got distracted by Natsu's fight with Elfman, Levy was busy talking with Gajeel, Mira was serving guild members and working at the bar. Cana was the only one that kept questioning the name of Lucy's mystery man, however, Gray soon distracted her and made her leave Lucy alone.

The rest of the day went by really fast. Gray and Lucy didn't really talk after what had happened.

When it started getting late Lucy left the guild and walked over to her apartment. When she left the guild had just started celebrating on who knew what but Lucy was way too tired to stay.

Once she got home she took a shower and put on a long shirt and some shorts. She laid down in bed and read over her story, editing it and adding to it.

She was just starting to write the part were the female heroin was kissed by a complete stranger, a gorgeous stranger to be exact, when she heard someone knock at the door. Lucy looked over at the door and placed her manuscript down on her table. Usually, she'd never have anyone knock at this time of night, the only visitors she would have at night were her teammates and they never knocked.

She opened the door, with a yawn escaping her lips, when she saw who it was, she blinked her eyes.

"Gray?"

He didn't answer her but merely shoved the door open and slammed it shut, bringing his arms around her waist as his lips landed on hers with big hunger. She was shocked at his sudden presence but found herself wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

She felt her feet flying as he lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he pushed her to the nearest wall. The feeling of his manhood that was pressing onto her crotch felt so, so good. Lucy gasped as he moved his hips slightly and buried his head on the crook of her neck. "Why are you here?" She managed to ask as he sucked on her neck.

Gray stopped what he was doing and glanced at her. "Why did you leave the guild so early?"

Lucy sighed in his arms and bit his jaw playfully. "I was tired. I haven't been able to sleep, thanks to someone.." She wiggled her hips to feel him even more and got a low growl out from him. She grinned at that.

He was now making his way towards her bedroom, taking her with him. She chuckled and held onto his shoulder tighter. "So best night you've ever had, huh? It's a pleasure to know I satisfy you." Lucy blushed when she heard him say that.

She got a big fat kiss as he placed her on her bed. "You've been the only man I've ever been with so I'm guessing you would be my best." She whispered and kissed his cheek.

Gray smirked. "And I'll remain being the only man you'll ever have sex with."

Lucy laughed out loud and played with the hem pf his shirt. He crawled his way on top of her and started to nibble on her lips while his hands explored her body. The way he touched her made her go wild. His lips trailed down her neck and he bit her flesh, she thought for a while that he was a vampire. He tugged on her shirt and she quickly took it off and was surprised when she felt him grab her breasts as soon as it welcomed his sight.

She never really liked wearing a bra at night so how happy must he felt when her nipples became hard at the touch of his fingers on them. His thumb brushed her right nipple and she let out a moan that was suddenly captured by him mouth. Lucy sat up straight for a while to take off his shirt and boy did she feel even more turned on. His wonderful chest was glistened by the light form the moon that came through her window and she couldn't help but admire his well sculptured body. He was like a wonderful nude statue.

She lifted her hips up as he took off her shorts without looking away from her eyes. The way he was looking at her captured her soul; he was looking at her with pure hunger, like a beast who wanted to eat her alive. She didn't know when her underwear was off her but all she could feel were his cold fingers trailing on the warmness of her body that seemed to be screaming for his longing touch.

"Gray?" She panted as he opened her legs widely and took a look at her. His big hands were on her knees as he sat in front of her parted legs, looking at her now visible naked body with desire. Lucy's face heated up as she realized he was now able to see her..private part clearly. He could see how swollen she had gotten from his magical fingers contact with her body. She felt her body twitch as he softly grazed his fingers on her and teased it open to get a better look of her body.

"Yes?"

He looked into her eyes and slowly lowered his head towards her. She could feel herself heating up as he kept looking into her brown eyes while his tongue gently touched her burning core that seemed too wet. She moaned and closed her eyes at the electrical energy he was blistering.

"You.. can't be too long.. here. Somebody..might be coming.. and might see..us-oh boy." She felt his cold, magic fingers again. She felt his fingers tracing lower and lower passed her body. Her breath quickened when she felt two of his fingers enter her slowly. She moaned so loudly that it surprised both of them. He smirked at her and kept entering her so fast with his fingers that she thought she would die of pleasure.

"Could you just shut up?" His voice was low and husky that it made her even hotter than she already was.

She nodded and bit her lip. Before he could go any further with his lips and fingers she grabbed his hair and looked down at him. "One more thing, Gray."

He groaned loudly before he looked up at her face. "God, what is it?"

She grinned. "I'm the one on top this time."

He chuckled and she couldn't help but feel his cool breath on her wet skin. "Well, we'll just see about that." He growled before he unbuckled the belt around his pants.

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone that has been supporting this story! I'm so glad you're enjoying this story and I'm very thankful to get so many awesome reviews. I was asked to add a love triangle between Gray/Lucy/Sting and I want to know what you guys think about that.. Should I add it? Should it be Sting? I was thinking about Loke but Sting isn't a bad idea.. If you have another character in mind for this love triangle please suggest it to me in a review! It'll be appreciated;) or just tell me if Sting is fine!

Thanks for reading!

~IceKeys121


	5. Chapter 5

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers _**

**_Chapter 5~_**

Gray reached out a strangle of her hair that fell on her face and placed it behind her ear. He wasn't surprised that she looked so stunning sleeping since she already looked wonderful awake. When she was awake, her face seemed bright and cheerful that it took his breath away. And now as he watched her sleeping, he couldn't help but admire her remarkable face and the way her pink lips seemed to pout.

He caressed her cheeks, making a slow pattern as he watched her taking deep breaths in her slumber. He felt her shifting slightly not long after and was met by a pair of brown eyes that looked at him with no emotion. He didn't know if she was already awake before. They stared at each other for a long time while neither of them dared to make a move. His fingers were still on her cheek but it stopped tracing a pattern he did a moment ago.

He stared into her brown eyes and softly sighed. "I have to go."

"Why?" She managed to ask in a very soft whisper. He now could see the hope on her perfectly stunning face.

"Erza might be here any second."

Lucy held his fingers that were on her cheeks and squeezed them lightly while she dropped her eyes, not wanting to look into his eyes. "Stay." It was barely a whisper but he managed to hear it.

He shook his head and started to move his thumb across her jaw line. "I can't."

She knew he was going to say that and she understood why. If he stayed they would one, get caught by Erza and two, he would probably be badly beaten for touching Lucy before marriage. Lucy sighed and smiled up at him. "I know."

He smiled back and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer to him. Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. Gray wished he could stay like this with Lucy all day, he loved having her in his arms, it just seemed so right for her to be there.

Gray sighed. He wished Erza would of chosen someone other than Lucy to go off on that job with. He really didn't want to let go of Lucy. After a few minuets of debating on what to do now, he sat up straight and caressed Lucy's cheek one last time before getting off the bed to put on his clothes back. Once he was fully clothed he walked over to Lucy, who was siting up straight in her bed, and kissed her forehead. "Take care."

Lucy's cheeks turned a light red and she looked away, trying to hide her blush and her smile.

Gray headed towards her bedroom door and before walking out heard Lucy's voice, making him stop and smile like an idiot. "I'll miss you."

He turned around and just when his eyes caught hers he saw her blush a deep shade of red. "Me too."

Just by hearing those two words Lucy's eyes widened and a grin spread over her face.

Gray walked out of her apartment grinning. He was happy to know that she would be missing him. For once, he was sure he wasn't the only one that felt their mutual attraction. He wasn't even sure why he was so happy about this, it wasn't like he liked her. Or so he hoped..

Being with Lucy made him feel weird and gave him thoughts he never had to deal with before because every time she was beside him all he wanted to do was to keep that bright smile of hers on her face.

She looked beautiful every time she smiled and it was rare for him to admit this. Girls were hot, sexy, and attractive. Sure she was also those kinds but whenever she smiled, he felt his stomach doing funny things.

Gray cursed as he walked towards Fairy Tail. Nothing could get out of control, this was only friends with benefits type of thing and he wanted to keep it that way.

He stopped in front of the huge doors of Fairy Tail and walked inside the noisy guild. He was greeted by some guild members that sat around tables and stopped at the bar counter to get a drink from Mira. "Morning, Mira."

The barmaid turned towards Gray and smiled. "Good morning Gray. Would you like me to get you something?"

"A glass of water please." Mira nodded and walked away.

Gray turned around to look around the guild. He noticed Juvia hadn't arrived at the guild yet, since he hadn't seen anyone follow him around since he got here, and he's not complaining. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed a gloomy looking salmon haired dragon slayer and his equally looking exceed sitting at a table.

"Whats up with those two?" Gray asked once Mira handed him his glass of water.

Mira looked over at Natsu and Happy and sighed. "They found out Lucy was going off on a job with Erza. It seems they've got nothing fun to do without their bubbly partner."

Gray took the glass of water and took a sip. He thanked Mira and walked over to Natsu.

He took a seat in front of Natsu and noticed his onyx eyes look up at him.

"Are you gonna be sulking all day?" Gray asked with a smirk. Natsu huffed and looked away.

"We're just bored.. We're not sulking. We wanted to go out fishing with Lucy but Erza decided to take her out on that job. And well, now we got nothing to do.." Natsu mumbled.

"The two of you could still go fishing."

"It's not the same without Lucy." Happy told Gray as he ate a fish.

Natsu looked over at Gray and sighed. " It's more fun when she's around. Aren't you bored as well? Erza and Lucy are gone and it seems Juvia is not following you around today. Wait never mind.." Gray raised an eyebrow and turned to look at what Natsu was looking at.

Gray raised an eyebrow when he saw Juvia being pushed over towards him by Lisanna. She looked extremely flustered and she was playing with her fingers and looking down.

"Do you think she's going to confess?" Happy whispered to his partner.

"Maybe? But doesn't she normally act like that around Gray?"

Gray turned over to the whispering idiots and glared at them.

"Gray-sama."

The two boys and the blue cat turned towards the water mage. "Hey Juvia." Gray greeted.

Juvia blushed and looked away.

"I think we should give them privacy.." Happy whispered.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Just cuz! Let's go Natsu." They both stood up and joined Levy, who was sitting alone in a table close by and seemed to be staring at Gray and Juvia.

"Do you think she'll confess?" She asked as Natsu and Happy sat down.

"I think so." Happy mumbled.

"I really don't care." Natsu answered with a shrug. Levy sighed an turned over to look at Juvia and Gray.

She was mumbling something.. Levy noticed how much effort it was taking Juvia to get every single word out. The girl seemed to struggle with the last words and once she heard the word date, Levy was sure the water mage had just confessed to Gray.

Happy seemed to notice this as well and both Levy and the blue cat seemed to hold their breath as they waited for Gray's response. Natsu crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow as he watched the scene unfold.

Everything seemed to stop around the guild as they heard a loud sob. The next thing Levy knew, Juvia was running out the guild, crying her heart out and Lisanna running after her.

"She was rejected!?" Happy exclaimed, clearly shocked. "Well, Gray did show a bit of interest for Erza the other day." Happy concluded.

Levy felt bad for Juvia but was also relieved to know Gray had no feelings for her. She was still rooting for him and Lucy.

Natsu sighed and stood up. "Where are you going Natsu?" Happy asked trying to stand up but was stopped by Natsu's answer. "I'm gonna go talk with Gray. Alone."

Happy watched as Natsu walked over to Gray and pouted. He took his fish and said something about going to find Carla.

Levy watched as Natsu walked away and couldn't help but wonder if he also knew about Gray and Lucy's 'relationship'.

"Are we going to talk about it?"

Gray grunted and looked away from Natsu, the dragon slayer took a seat in front of Gray and was waiting for an answer. Gray looked annoyed and Natsu knew exactly why. He didn't want to talk about it but he wasn't going to let it go. Natsu sighed and looked away, after a while of waiting and just watching Gray sit there and stare at his glass of water a yawn escaped Natsu. He was bored and Lucy was gone.

"Come on Gray, you know you want to say something."

"I don't feel like talking Natsu," he mumbled looking at anything but Natsu. "Why don't you go bother someone else, like Gajeel."

Natsu glared at Gray and turned around, only to see Gajeel sitting down at the table he had been at minuets ago.

"He's busy talking to Levy."

"Good. The three of you could have a field day."

Natsu glared at Gray and mumbled a 'yeah right.' He sighed and sat up straight.

"You're going to have to talk about it sometime. You can't avoid me forever."

"I can try..." he muttered.

"Look Gray. If you can't trust your best friend, who can you trust?"

At that Gray genuinely turned to Natsu with a puzzled look on his face. "You're my best friend?"

"..Well..Yeah, I guess so."

"What about Lucy?"

Natsu glared at him, not so much because he said something that irritated him...well, actually yeah, mostly because that was annoying. "Lucy's my best unavailable friend whose time is being taken by Erza. Sadly, you're my best friend at the moment. Just deal with it ice princes."

"Yeah, until Lucy comes back, thats is. And I really don't have to deal with it, flame brain."

Natsu turned his eyes away form Gray and glowers. "I'm tring to be helpful. Work with me Gray."

"Nothing happened." Gray mumbled under his breath.

"Nothing happened? Juvia just ran out of the guild crying. You call that nothing?"

"Juvia asked you out just now. That isn't nothing. And you didn't even flinch after seeing her ran out crying. Why did you reject her?"

Gray stayed silent and looked away.

Natsu sighed. "Is it because she isn't Lu-"

"I rejected her offer to go out on a date because I had something else to do today." He spits out before letting Natsu finish.

Natsu crossed his arms over the table and sighed, leaning his chin against the table. "You should talk to her when she comes back."

"I don't have any feelings for Juvia." Gray grumbles.

"I was talking about Lucy."

Gray looked a bit surprised and waited to hear what Natsu would say next.

"I'm sure she'd love to hear from you once she gets back."

"You think so...?"

It was a whisper. Not meant to be heard. But Natsu heard it. He nodded and stood up. Gray pretended not to notice any of this, but his shoulders loosened instantly.

Gray stood up as well and looked over at the guild doors. "I'm gonna head home."

Natsu nodded and looked over at Gray. "I get it, I get it. I can get annoying. I'll just have to go fishing with Happy alone."

"Have fun."

Natsu waved goodbye as Gray walked off to the guild doors. Just before completely disappearing from Natsu's view, the dragon slayer noticed a smile on Grays face.

Natsu sighed and shook his head. People call him dense, hah! They should see Gray, the idiot likes Lucy and hasn't noticed it himself but Natsu has. Some people should really give some credit to Natsu at times.

"So he rejected her for Lucy, huh?" Natsu was startled to find Levy standing beside him. She was staring at the guild doors and was smiling.

"It looks like it. He didn't really admit or say much. It's just what I think." Natsu answered. Levy grinned and turned over to Natsu. " Well it's good to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks that."

* * *

Gray stumbled on a sofa in his living room, he felt terrible. Seeing Juvia cry and run out of the guild made him feel like a jerk. He never thought she would finally confess to him, and worst of all at the guild.

"Looks like we should go out to do something fun." Gray looked up to find Loke looking down at him with a smirk.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Lucy?" Gray asked getting up and walking off to his room.

"She's with Erza.. She'll be fine. Plus, their mission is pretty easy. They're working at a coffee shop. I'm sure she's not going to need me." Loke explained, following Gray to his room.

Gray sat in his bed and sighed. Loke raised an eyebrow as he examined his friend.

"We really should hang out, you look like shit."

"Well thanks." Gray made a sympathetic face and waved his hand around. "And we are hanging out." He said as if it wasn't clear enough for Loke.

Loke rolled his eyes. "I meant out for some air. Let's go to that new bar in town. Maybe pick up some girls."

Gray staid silent and looked away. "Not in the mood for that."

"Oh c'mon! We haven't hanged out in a while and I really feel like picking up a blonde." Loke thought out the last part enthusiastically.

Gray couldn't help but blush at an imagination of a certain girl with blonde hair . He closed his eyes. "Then go ahead, I'd like to stay in my room all day."

Loke sighed and took a seat beside his friend on the edge of his bed. "What's wrong man? You never say no when it comes to hanging out and picking up girls."

"Not in the mood, I guess." Gray shrugged nonchalantly. He then continued, "You can still go without me, you know."

"What's the fun in that? The whole point is to hang out together.. and, well, pick up girls as well."

Gray sighed and placed his hands behind his head. "And your point is..?"

Loke shook his head. "The point is that I think you're hiding something. And I would like to know what the hell it is that you're keeping me away from."

Gray and Loke made a long eye contact. It felt as if Loke knew what was happening between him and Lucy...but really? The friends with benefits thing was only a week now. Nope wait, it was less that a week. Only a few days and Lucy had the magic to make Gray feel weird every time he saw her smile, she had his stomach feeling all weird and making freaking flips. It was driving him nuts.

The two guys stared at each other, both of them trying to read each others mind. Gray had only met Loke three years before meeting Lucy. Their friendship wasn't as long as Gray's friendship with Natsu or maybe Erza but the time they met each other something clicked and they had a strong bond. They had been close friends since then and having to keep a secret from Loke, and to think it had to do with his owner, made Gray feel uneasy. Friendship had always been important to him.

Gray took a deep breath. "Look Loke, there's nothing going on."

Loke eyed him doubtfully before giving him a smirk. There was something going on, he knew it. He could tell by the way Gray was looking away now. Loke knew that whenever Gray lied he couldn't look into anyones eyes. Loke felt kind of offended that his friend didn't trust him enough to tell him whatever was happening with him. Gray always told him everything, mostly everything, he even enlightened Loke with his feelings about losing Ur and the whole deal with Lyon and what happened at Garuna island. What was he keeping to himself? If he didn't want Loke to know, than there was only one thing that Loke could think of. Maybe it had something to do with him, or someone he knew...

Loke shook his head and stood up, letting the subject drop. Sooner or later, he was going to find out what was going on with Gray. "Let's just do something." He suggested.

Gray was pretty sure Loke was also keeping something to himself. Whatever it was he didn't want to think about it too much. He was, in any case, still had a secret to remain.

Gray sighed and stood up, crossing his arms in the process. "Glad to be done with the tension. It can get worse than porn."

Loke rolled his eyes. "Do you seriously need to bring up porn?"

Gray grinned and shook his head. "So what was it that you said about that bar and picking up girls?"

Loke smirked. "That's the Gray I know and love!"

"Oh no dude. Please don't say that ever again." Gray said with a disgusted face, he walked over to the door, ready to start heading out the room.

"You're such a party pooper." Loke murmured, following Gray out the room.

* * *

Sunlight streamed in through the window, warming his face as he stirred from a sound sleep.

It was quiet in the room save for the gentle voices coming from the people passing by the outside of his apartment. The sheets were warm and satiny against his skin, the pillow beneath his aching head was gloriously stuffed and he never wanted to move again.

He had been drinking last night, that much was obvious, judging from the familiar throb in his temples that heralded a vicious hangover. His mouth was dry, and when he sat up, he felt dizzy and needed a moment to make sense of his surroundings.

He was relieved to see that he was at his apartment. The clock on the bedside table read 12:45 pm, Gray cursed lightly under his breath. He hated waking up so late, and this surely was a record for him, he had never woken up so late. Vaguely, he tried to remember what had happened last night. He remembered parts of what had happened, like going to a bar with Loke and drinking a bit too much. He also remembered a girl getting too close to him. She had kissed him and had implied to maybe do more but Gray had pushed her away.

He was surprised that even in his drunken state he was able to push away the girl. It was mostly the fact that when the girl kissed him he had thought of Lucy. He wasn't sure what was going on with him, but he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was.

Well, he would need to shower, definitely. A night of partying and drinking left him feeling sweaty and rough. Gray swung his legs over the side of the bed, the sheets falling from his body, he was surprised to see he was wearing the clothes he had worn to the bar.

He stood up and started making his way to the bathroom, throwing his shirt over his head. He threw his shirt in a basket full of dirty clothes and soon his pants and boxers joined the shirt.

He leaned over to turn on the cold water, stepping into the shower once he felt it was cold enough. His shoulders hunched when the cold water hit his upper back. Gray closed his eyes and turned around, letting the water beat at his face. He ran a hand over his shoulder, gently pressing at the muscle. He passed a hand over his face and sighed. He wanted to see Lucy.

He turned off the water and opened the shower curtain. He grabbed a towel from the towel rack and wrapped it around his waist.

Once outside the bathroom he decided he would go see Lucy. Maybe go check on how everything went on her mission with Erza and maybe, just maybe, get something else from his little visit.

* * *

Gray walked around the lake near Lucy's apartment. It was just starting to get dark and Gray noticed that Lucy's lights were off. He sighed and turned to look up at the stars. He didn't know why his heart was beating fast at the thought of seeing Lucy. Sure he hadn't seen her for a day but.. It was just one day! It wasn't like he hadn't seen her for a week, or a month.. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if she decided to go on a long mission without him. He'd probably go crazy.

Gray stopped as his brain registered what he had just thought. There was definitely something wrong going on with him.

As he starred at the sky he noticed that it was getting darker and gloomy with stars surrounding the half moon that was shinning softly towards earth. He smiled to himself as he spotted one star that shined brighter than the others. Since he was little the sight of the dark night made him in peace.

He didn't know how long he had just been standing there, just spacing out until a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Gray?"

He turned around and was startled at the sight of Lucy looking at him. Even though she was wearing dark shorts and a white shirt underneath her pink jacket with her hair in a high ponytail, she still took his breath away. What was it with Lucy's beauty? There was something about her that shouted stunning to him. It was like she was a magnet to his dark blue orbs. "Oh, hey Lucy."

Lucy seemed uncomfortable as she shifted the paper bag that she held near her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to know how your job with Erza went."

"And you came here just to ask me that?"

"I guess.."

Lucy frowned slightly. "I-I heard what happened with Juvia yesterday.." Gray looked shocked for a bit but soon turned his gaze away from Lucy's.

"I also heard you went to a bar." Gray looked over at Lucy with wide eyes. He definitely would kill Loke the next time he saw him.

"Loke wanted me to give you this." She waved a folded piece of paper at him. "He said it took him a while but he was able to get her name." Lucy handed him the folded paper and when Gray opened it his eyes grew larger, if possible.

Gray frowned and tried to explain but Lucy beat him to speak.

"I'm sure you'll need it. After all, Loke did say she was quite the girl an looked to be an extremely good kisser." Lucy looked away, anger showing in her brown eyes. She knew those weren't the exact words Loke had said but she was so mad that she couldn't stop herself.

"Look Lucy, nothing happened. This girl just came up and kissed me and-" He stopped, he didn't even know why he was explaining this to Lucy. Its not like he had done something wrong. Lucy wasn't his girlfriend, he didn't need to explain himself.

Gray frowned at her after he thought what would be the right thing to say. "I thought we were friends with benefits Lucy, only sex." It might not be the right thing to say, but it was what he thought at the moment.

She surprised him by groaning loudly before sitting herself down, placing her palm on her closed eyes to cover her flushed face. "I know! I don't know what's going on with me, to be honest." She admitted slowly.

Gray courage himself to say what he was about to say because he knew that every time he said this it would always come out as a tease. He turned his face into a serious expression. "Were you jealous?" He managed to ask in a soft whisper.

Lucy dropped her hands and opened her eyes to find him looking down at her. His eyes were drowned toward her heart..something about this guy made her feel so, so different. She was scared at the way he was looking now, where the humor was gone from his eyes and the teasing voice of his turned into a serious tone. She looked away from him. "I don't know."

After seconds of silence, Gray decided he was tired of dealing with this, he sighed loudly.

"Women are way too complicated." He murmured.

Lucy stood up and glared at him. "Well maybe you should just turn gay, that way you won't have to deal with women."

"Maybe I will." Gray stated looking away, trying to hide his smirk.

He heard her laugh. "Yeah right.."

He walked over to her and placed a hand on her cheek. Her eyes snapped wide open and she stared at him as his face came closer to her for a kiss. Gray heard a loud gasp and the next thing he knew he was pushed away by Lucy and tripping over the ledge, making him fall into the lake.

"Gray!"

Lucy ran over to check on him. He came up from the water with a gasp and Lucy sighed once she saw he was fine. He looked up at her and Lucy smiled sheepishly. "Oops..?"

Gray swam over to the ledge and climbed up. Once he was standing up he looked over at Lucy and before he could say anything Lucy let out a nervous laugh. "Well I should start heading home-" She was about to leave when all of a sudden his hands captured her delicate face and pressed his wet lips on her soft ones. She dropped the bag she had been holding from the surprise kiss and whimpered from his touch.

She held his shoulders as she kissed him back. "Oh god." She moaned louder. This wasn't supposed to happen. She planned on just giving the note that Loke had wanted her to give Gray. She also planned on ending the benefits thing when Loke mentioned about Gray kissing some other girl. This was not suppose to happen.. then why was her body screaming more from him to touch her?

She didn't care that he was wet and her clothes were starting to get wet by the cold drips of water on his body, because she didn't mind at all. All she hungered for was his lips on hers that moved in sync together.

Gray felt the eyes of people passing by on them so he quickly grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her towards her apartment. His grip on her wrist wasn't soft, it was actually anything but soft. He pulled her harder and she couldn't help but let out a yelp when she hit herself onto the wall. He didn't look at her, not even a glance, when he hurriedly opened her apartment door and shoved her inside. She stumbled a little but managed to stay put as he slammed the door with his foot that made a loud thud that echoed around the apartment.

She couldn't think straight. She knew she was now trapped in this mess, that she was almost sure she had gotten herself in. Gray didn't move, he merely watched her breathing uncontrollably as she looked at him like he was some kind of beast.

He did look like a monster in her eyes now. The way his eyes roamed down her body and stopped at her breasts gave her shivers. Yet again.. she couldn't help but realize the warm wetness inside her panties. His eyes met her briefly before he took a step forward.

"Take off your clothes."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew it wasn't a question, it was a command that came out from his mouth. She looked deep into his eyes to see if he was joking or not, and she saw that he really was serious.

What shocked her even more was that she found herself nodding and doing just like he had said.

She took off her pink jacket and noticed that she was wet, literally wet, the front of her clothes were semi-damp that clung onto her body and she didn't like the feeling of it one bit. Her eyes caught his gaze as she slowly threw away the jacket onto the floor, landing there with a soft thump. She felt his eyes on her lips as she licked them before she tugged on the bottom of her shirt and lifted it up over her head. That top followed her jacket that was lying innocently on the floor.

His eyes wondered over her body as she unbuttoned her shorts, very slowly letting her zipper down. His breath went faster when she bent down and took off her shorts that moved slowly down her long legs. She kicked them fast and watched his eyes that couldn't stop trailing her half naked body that stood before him.

He saw her pointing at her bra as she looked at him with no expression. "This too?"

He couldn't say a word when he felt his boxers tightening around his waist. He nodded slightly and licked his lips when her hands unclasped her bra from the front, revealing her plump breasts with her soft looking pink nipples pointing towards him. He let out a low growl when her bra finally fell down, gliding down her shoulders softly before it rested around her feet.

The moment she traced her fingers on her panties, he couldn't take it anymore. With long strides of his legs he was already in front of her in no time. With his rough hands he forcefully pushed her towards the bed. She gasped when the bed made contact with her back...it wasn't as soft as she thought. Her gasp was soon captured by his mouth as he let his tongue taste the inside of her. She moaned when she felt him settle himself between her legs. He roughly thrusted his wet boxers on her already wet panties that weren't wet because of the water from the lake. She whimpered at the pleasure she was feeling.

He captured one of her nipples with his tongue and circled it fast. His other hand fondled with her other breast as his thumb traced her nipples violently. She let out a loud moan and moved her hips towards his own. He looked at her face in pleasure when he softly bit her nipple while he moved his hips toward her already wet core. She bit her lips from screaming his name.

His lips trailed down her body, towards her stomach and licked her naval swiftly. He sat up straight and finally, but oh so slowly, grabbed her panties and without asking her, she lifted her hips and straightened her legs for him to take them off easily. Once they were off, he parted her legs as widely as they could manage and scanned her now naked body. She was already soaking wet and the warmth radiating from her made him even harder.

Lucy tried to close her legs but the grip of his hands on her knees wouldn't let her do such thing. She realized now as he stared at her from head to toe that whenever they were about to have sex, he would always do this first. She didn't know why she was being this provocative, but the thought of even doing it turned her on. So without even thinking anything else, Lucy parted her legs very wide for him to see and closed her eyes as she let one of her hands make a way across her stomach and let her fingers stop at her core.

She moaned when her her middle finger pressed on her nub and she softly traced a pattern there. She didn't dare to open her eyes and see his expression, she didn't even know why she was doing this. She didn't feel him move around her and thought that he had already left her and her heart ached so bad, but when she felt his tongue tracing he swollen wet lips on her crotch she couldn't help but arch her back and let the sensation wash over her.

Her hand was no longer on her body when she felt him dominating down there. Her hands gripped tightly on her covers when straightly two fingers entered her fast. She gasped at the sudden touch but nonetheless buckled her hills toward his magical fingers. He pumped into her hard, rough and the sight of her squirming beneath him made him suck her hard nub with force. Her eyes rolled at the back of her head as he felt her walls tightening around his fingers and her body seemed to be stiff for a while. That was when he understood she was about to release the warmness of her liquid. But he was not going to give it to her that easy.

He quickly pulled his fingers out of her and she opened her eyes disapprovingly. She glared at him when he smirked at her while he licked all his fingers clean. "You're not cuming without me, Lucy."

She didn't know how he did it, but he managed to turn her body until her face and stomach faced the bed. She stayed still as she heard him moving around her before she heard a package being ripped off. He was definitely ripping off a condom. Moments later he gripped her hips and lifted them up to the angle that he wanted. She didn't even know when he took off his boxers, all she knew about was the feeling of the tip of his hot and hard member brushing her wet core..she felt like she could die. He wasn't entering her, he was only teasing her while she could feel the smirk when he bent down and whispered hoarsely in her ear, "Do you want this?"

She groaned as his fingers pinched her nipples softly. "Yes! Please, hurry up!"

"Say it."

She moaned when his member rubbed her at the right spots. The head of his long and hard member entered her softly but stopped when she was still silent. "Lucy, say what you want."

Her hands gripped onto her covers again as she arched her hips closer to his touch. She still closed her mouth and with one firm hand, he slapped his palm onto one of her butt cheeks. "Shit!" She shouted which got a smirk from him in return.

"Say it." He repeated.

She bit her lips and gripped the covers tighter, all she wanted was for him to be inside of her, she just couldn't come to say that out loud.

"Lucy-" Gray softly warned her.

Lucy let out a shaky sigh and finally gave in. "Please make me yours, Gray."

She closed her eyes quickly, she did not just say that did she?

With a small smile on his lips and without a warning, he quickly entered her hard with one swift movement. She could feel the tears in her eyes at the sudden feeling of his member entering her fully. He was always soft..what the hell happened to him?! She was about to curse at him when he moved his hips again and back and forth with a very fast pace. Instead of hating him at that second, she moaned again and followed his fast rhythm.

This was so new for her. He was always calm and exciting with her..he was never this rough. But nonetheless she wanted him more. She arched her back and lifted her hips higher for him to enter her. The sound of his thigh pounding hard on her ass echoed around the room. His low growl and grunt made her move her hips faster than before and he followed her instantly. She then found out that this position was going to be one of her favorites.

He straightened himself and griped her hips hard and his thrusts became louder and more exotic. She knew that he was about to release himself. Her hands clenched onto her sheets and he let out a loud growl when he felt his release. She closed her eyes and curled her toes when she felt herself following his loud moan as she stiffened underneath his touch.

They both stayed silent as they waited for their heart to beat in its normal pace. Once he recovered, he slowly pulled out of her, making her moan quietly. He lied down beside her and stared at her still sweaty body. He looked away and directed his gaze at the ceiling, feeling Lucy glancing at him.

That was the best sex he had ever had.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone that reviewed and suggested a character for the love triangle. I noticed that some of you are fine with Sting, but many others are not. As for Loke, I decided I didn't want him to be meddling in their relationship for bad but for good... He'll be helping them both realize their feelings :p So at the moment I'm debating with myself of whether to have Sting or Hibiki join the story.. So I'm gonna leave it up to you guys to vote for one of those two! If not I'm just gonna end up flipping a coin.. Haha. Well thanks for all the support and the awesome reviews. It really encourages me to keep writing this story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading!

~IceKeys121


	6. Chapter 6

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 6~_**

Lucy's eyes fluttered open quickly, wincing when the sunlight hit her eyes. She turned to her side, where Gray laid peacefully asleep. She smiled, she loved it when Gray was asleep, he would look so peaceful, and made him look so much younger, making him look like a little cute boy. She traced the lines on his face, wanting to giggle when he lightly shook his head.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. Lucy sighed and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe that she had been extremely angry at him yesterday and now she was enjoying being close to him and had sex with him all night. A part of her was still mad at Gray, but to be honest, she was angrier at herself for letting him use her body so easily.

She jumped when a hand came up to touch her hair. A groan emerged from deep within Gray's throat. Tilting her head up, Lucy looked up to meet at pair of dark blue eyes. "Morning, Gray."

"Morning."

Lucy looked away from him and slowly got off her bed, picking up her clothes as she headed to the bathroom. She dropped them on a basket and walked over to her bathroom and locked the door behind her, instantly collapsing against it with a shuddering sigh.

She couldn't believe that the guy that took her virginity, the guy that made her heart skip a beat whenever she glanced at him, was outside, laying in her bed, and acting normal about what had happened, and the worst part is ,it's that she had played along as well. It was even harder to believe that this was the same guy that irritated her the most, that had her all weak by his touch, that just had an argument with her yesterday, and that had her facing down on her bed and taking her from behind with so much passion and rage. This was the same guy that had already made her life so confusing in just a few days.

A glance in the mirror made her want to hit herself. She looked completely and utterly fucked. Her mouth was swollen, her blonde hair was in a complete mess, her chest was covered in red marks and..there was something in her eyes. It's like her dirty self was peeking out of them, making them twinkle with something close to satisfaction. She looked away before she actually punched her reflection.

With what felt like a super-human effort, Lucy pushed herself off the door and stepped into her bath. After a quick bath, she brushed her teeth, while thinking what to say when she finally stepped out of the bathroom.

It took a lot of courage, that she doesn't really have, to walk out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later. She opened the door as quietly as she could, hoping to delay the confrontation, but when she looked over at her bed, Gray wasn't there. Her mouth went dry and she clutched the towel around herself with in a tight grip.

Had he left? Without saying anything?

Lucy put on her underwear and a skirt she found on her couch. She walked over to her closet to get a black long sleeve, all the while feeling numb, not even registering the cold. Her mind was blank when she dragged herself to her kitchen, a headache dully starting to appear. She nearly screamed when she saw Gray sitting at the kitchen table, but didn't, stumbling backwards instead. Gray looked at her like if she had gone crazy, and sipped at his mug.

"Gra- What, uh, hi." She spluttered and then wanted to bang her head against the doorframe. Gray stared at her over the rim of his mug, blue eyes slightly narrowed, and Lucy felt very naked. She crossed her arms over her chest in what she hoped to look like a casual gesture.

There was a heavy silence in the room that might of drove Lucy mad if Gray didn't break it soon. When he did, his soft, low voice brought back memories that the dirty part of her brain enjoyed way too much.

"Hey," Gray said, lowering the mug onto the table. The room smelt like tea and rain and Lucy started to get cold. Her feet were freezing, bare on the tiled floor and her arms and legs were covered in goose bumps. "It's getting kind of chilly, huh?"

Lucy then noticed that he's wearing a pair of jeans, and a navy blue sweater.

"Yeah." She mumbled, not daring to look into Gray's eyes again. She hesitated a moment, considering going back into her bedroom to put on more clothes, but decided against it. She was afraid that if she left, Gray wouldn't be there when she got back.

She got herself a mug from the shelf and sat at the table across from Gray. Then she remembered that she couldn't actually drink air and got up to get some tea from the pot. Gray looked a little amused when Lucy sat back down.

Lucy didn't know what to say. All she could think about were the events that had happened yesterday, she wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth.

"It looks like it's gonna be raining all day." Gray said out of nowhere.

Lucy couldn't believe he was talking about the weather. All her thoughts were soon erased when her stomach started aching and felt like an empty cave. Lucy felt a rumble coming on and placed both her hands on her stomach and pressed hard. But it didn't stop it from rumbling. She looked up at the clock above them and found out that it was already past midday.

Lucy stood up and opened a couple of cabinets looking for some food. After opening her fridge and realizing that she had no food, she turned around with a mad scowl. She had gone grocery shopping yesterday but she had dropped all her groceries by the lake. And it was all because of Gray...

Gray raised an eyebrow when he saw a mad looking Lucy stomp out of the kitchen. Minutes later, she returned with a list in hand and an evil smirk on her lips.

Gray let out a sigh once he realized where this was going.

* * *

They stood shoulder to shoulder at the market near Fairy Tail. The rows and rows of products lined the shelfs each promising the same results, but they all looked the same to their untrained eyes. The particular aisle they stood in was one that neither of them would be caught dead in, the soft colors were unholy and unwelcoming.

Gray reached into his pocket for the list, reading over it and checking to see if he had everything. He looked over at the basket and sighed, he had the bread, the eggs, the lettuce, and the box of cereal. There was only one thing left in the list, the one thing Gray had been ignoring the whole time.

He had to get everything on the list, even if he really didn't want to, he had to remind himself that that was why he was in the convenience store on this damp, rainy afternoon.

"Why exactly did you drag me here?" Natsu asked grumpily, turning his back to the products lining in the shelf.

Gray rolled his eyes and shot off a glare at the pink haired dragon slayer. "Because I didn't want to come buy this alone and you eat her food all the time so it's kind of also your fault we're in this situation." Gray mumbled turning his attention to the task at hand. "And plus I could really use the moral support. Is that really too much to ask for?"

Natsu nodded. "Yes it is." He said uncomfortably and folded his arms tightly across his chest. It was epic really, the choices for feminine hygiene products out numbered everything else in the store and it was a wonder really how women dealt with this phenomena once a month.

"It's not like I'm asking you to help me bury a body, just stand there." Gray snapped softly as he racked his brain for what exactly he was asked to buy. "But then again, that would be easier."

Gray looked over at all the different brands and colors, he had no clue on which to take.

"Why are we even doing this?" Natsu asked after a long moment of silence and it broke his concentration. With wings, without wings, heavy, regular, light, gentle glide, contouring shape, extra absorbent. "Gray?"

Gray saw a blue paw waved in front of his face an quickly looked up to see Natsu waiting for his answer. He felt Happy, who sat on his head, shift a little and called his name again.

Gray sighed and shrugged. "I..accidentally made her drop her bag yesterday and she's making me buy all the stuff she lost..and well, like I said before, you two are the main reason why she doesn't have food so you should help out as well." He answered picking up a purple box of tampons, but quickly placed it back down.

"And she couldn't get Levy or even Erza to buy this?" Natsu asked with a frown, girls bought feminine products for each other didn't they? It wasn't something one would ask their male teammates to do.

"I guess not.. and plus, I think she's even doing this on purpose. It's her revenge for making her drop her groceries." Gray murmured as he stared at the shelves.

"Why don't we take her the blue ones!" Happy suggested as he pointed at the the middle of the shelves. "Looks good to me." Gray answered picking up the blue pack. Natsu gave him a side glance as they walked towards the register with the blue pack hidden under Gray's arm. "What?"

Natsu shrugged and smiled as he grabbed some snacks on the way. "I just thought it was weird that Lucy would ask you to buy girl products for her..it just seems like something, um, how do I say it..?" Natsu scratched his nose as he tried to think of what was the right thing to say. "Like something a boyfriend would do!" Happy chipped in with an excited grin.

Gray sighed and rolled his eyes. "I already told you, she's making me do this because it's her stupid revenge." Gray walked over to the cashier and as they paid, he noticed all the food Natsu had picked out. As they walked out of the market Gray handed Natsu his bag and Happy his fish. "Thanks." They both said with a huge grin on their faces.

"I guess I should start heading over to Lucy's apartment." Gray sighed as he noticed it was starting to get dark.

* * *

Lucy sat in her bed, knees covering her chest, her arms crossed over her knees, and her head resting over her crossed arms. She looked out her window and saw the rain falling as she let out a long sigh.

If Loke hadn't asked her to take that stupid paper to Gray, she wouldn't be having all these mixed feelings. She would of never known that Gray had kissed some other girl after telling her he would miss her. And as much as she would of liked to say he cheated on her, well, she really couldn't, they never really were in a relationship. If stupid Natsu hadn't eaten all her food, causing her to have to go out grocery shopping, and Loke coming out of his gate offering her his help, and ending up telling her to give that stupid piece of paper to Gray, she wouldn't be in this situation.

More importantly, if Loke hadn't mentioned something about a cute girl Gray was with at the a bar.. She would have never found out about him kissing some other girl. Lucy still remembered his word as she stepped out of the market holding her grocery bag.

"Do you need any help, princess." Lucy looked up and shook her head. "I'm fine, Loke. It's not even that heavy." Lucy told him as she waved a hand. Loke sighed and nodded. "Oh, can you give this to Gray whenever you see him."

Loke handed Lucy a folded piece of paper and she eyed the piece of paper suspiciously. "What's this?"

"Uh, a folded paper."

Lucy rolled her eyes at his sarcastic tone and was about to walk away when he called her again. She sighed and turned back at him with a scowl. "What is it now?"

"Tell Gray that the girl he made out with is not from around here. I couldn't get much information about her but I got her name."

Lucy's eyes widened and she felt her heart sink. Instead of telling Loke to give the paper to Gray himself, Lucy found herself stuttering. "W-what?"

Loke leaned on a wall and stared at Lucy. "Yeah, Gray hanged out with this cute girl and she was really into him and they made out. Gray left pretty drunk so I thought I'd get him the girls name."

She suddenly felt worse than before. She felt sick all of a sudden. "When, um, did this actually happen?"

"Excuse me?"

"Um, Gray...you know."

Loke looked at her confusingly, like if she had grown a new mustache. "Why do you care?"

"I..don't." Loke lifted an eyebrow. Lucy took a deep breath as she felt the weird tingling pain again. "I don't." She repeated again rather to assure herself.

He sighed. "Well we both went to this new bar in town and we both drank a bit too much and as it started getting late Gray started getting close to this blonde girl and they both started making out. She looked like she was a great kisser, pretty cute as well." Lucy saw her celestial spirit smirk as he explained.

That's when a part of her went mad with jealousy. She then rushed to her apartment, deciding that whenever she saw Gray she would give him a piece of her mind...but that didn't actually turn out too well.

Call her stupid, because she knew she was. It's amazing how your body can work much stronger than your brain. And it's definitely amazing how your hormones can scream louder than your real thoughts. Action does speak louder than words, Lucy guessed.

As she thought of him now, somehow...all the yelling, screaming, and the grudge that she had for him was nowhere to be found. All she could think of was the heat he made her body feel every time he stood close to her.

She closed her eyes. What had she done to deserve this torture? Her body wanted him more than anything else...but her brain told her to stop being so foolish.

A sad smile formed on her lips as she felt her heart aching to be his. A piece of her heart wanted to be his...

For the love of god!

It was quite a shock. They had been arguing a few moments before and then they had sex. And as it all happened Lucy realized that she wanted more than sex. Oh god, she wanted more. Last week she had just lost her virginity for crying out loud! And now she wanted to be in a real relationship with Gray? Him? The guy who seemed to not want anything to do with commitments?

Was she stupid or what?

Lucy shook her head, falling for Gray Fullbuster was never the plan.

Lucy got off her bed and walked over to her kitchen. She grabbed what she needed when she got all emotional and depressed. What could get better than sweets?

She took some lollipops, ice cream and of course chocolates. She walked back into her room and dropped her bag of sweets on the floor before she let herself fall down on the bed with a soft thud. She stared at the ceiling and thought of the messed up situation she had gotten herself into. Could you just imagine how tough her teenage life has been these couple of days?

Just imagine yourself being Lucy, went to a party, got a little tipsy and lost the one thing you've treasured to your teammate/friend and you wake up the next day to find yourself having sex again with him multiple times.. Soberly. And you enjoyed it, you wanted to do it again but you see him trying a stupid move on Erza making it look like he was attracted to her. You then think he was just playing with you so you try to move on but he kept on chasing you and kind of (ahem) begged you to be his sex toy. Or friends with benefits. Or fuck buddies.. Which ever you prefer. You didn't know how or why but you somehow agreed whenever you felt his touch.. and at that moment you felt happy because you could experience something exciting without thinking about any feelings you have for him because you did not feel anything except a big attraction for his body. Well, at that time.

But one day you found out that he kissed another girl the same day you woke up together and he told you he would miss you, you feel kind of betrayed right? Even though you didn't have any serious relationship going on..but still, you were shocked and angry to hear that. So you decided to confront him and end this thing (whatever was going on between the two of you), you guys fought on and on but then somehow he managed to sweep you off your feet and throw you into your bed to have a session of hot and steamy rough sex. Afterwards you feel terrible and completely disgusted with yourself for letting him use your body that easily. You were mad at yourself because you let your hormones do the talk.. Or maybe at this kind of situation, 'do the work'.

And the worse part is that now, you found yourself falling deeply for the guy that made you feel things you have never felt before.

Yes well, welcome to Lucy's life.

Lucy tried to sleep after she took very long bubble bath, but her eyes didn't want to rest just yet. She kept on walking around her apartment to try and do something fun or just trying to distract herself. She added to her story and her brain couldn't stop thinking about all the events that had happened to her. It was like the off button on her brain didn't work. She decided to put her manuscript away and grabbed a bar of chocolate. As she ate her eyes landed towards her desk and saw her key ring, one key stood out from the others and she couldn't help but stand up and grab Leo's key. Hmmm, maybe he could help her.

Lucy soon found herself laying in her bed, propped on her elbows with her head in her hands. She looked over at Loke who now sat on her couch waiting for her to explain why she called him.

Lucy fumbled with her pillow as she felt herself getting embarrassed. "Hey can I ask you something?" He merely nodded. She took a deep breath and continued, "How do you know if a guy is serious about you?"

Loke raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "Serious? As in..?"

"Well, romance." Lucy answered and looked away.

Loke laughed. Yes, he actually laughed at Lucy's attempt to find a solution for this weird relationship she put herself into. He looked at her with amusement. "Why so sudden? You never ask me about your love life."

Love life her ass! She has no love life. But she does have a life filled with these weird feelings that she has never felt before.

She took a bar of chocolate from the bag that laid near her bed and unwrapped it while she shrugged her shoulders to act nonchalant. "Just curious that's all."

She couldn't actually tell him about her relationship with Gray since they were close friends. Could you imagine her saying 'Oh yeah Loke, you're pretty close with Gray so yeah, you must know how he goes with girls right?'?

Loke smirked at her while she took a bite from her chocolate. "No seriously, there has to be something."

How could he know her so well?

"Well you're a guy, who else should I ask, Natsu?"

"Lucy?" She could sense pure amusement from his voice.

Lucy shook her head and tried to clear her thoughts. She laid down on her bed and sighed. "I'm just curious."

"Are you sure it's not because you're going out with a guy?"

She dint dare to look at Loke. "Well.. If I say we're 'going out' then that would be wrong. If I say nothing is going on.. then.."

"It'd be wrong?"

Ugh! Her and her big mouth. Why did she have to say that?

She took her chocolate and took a bite of it. Why was she even bothering to ask him this? Oh yeah, because she wanted to know more about Gray. Wait, why did she even want to know more about that guy?

Oh..because she was now finding herself falling deeply for him.

"Lucy? Do you want my opinion or not?"

She nodded her head slowly as she chewed the sweet chocolate in her mouth. Lucy saw Loke shuffling in her couch before he turned towards her.

"Well, in a guy's mind there are three perspectives towards a girl. No wait, four I guess. The first one is about how a guy looks at you and sees you, as nothing more than a friend. He respects you, but he doesn't feel anything for you. Not even sexual attraction.

"Then there's the second one. It's all about sex. He sees you and all he think think about is sex, nothing else. Usually this type of guy is a player. And a player is about getting girls easy so he should be very good-looking, charming and funny."

Lucy glanced at him and saw him grinning at her sheepishly. "Talking about yourself, are we?" She rolled her eyes.

Loke laughed and continued. "The third one is the 'love' type. He sees you and all he thinks is how the world would be if you weren't beside him. This type is pretty cheesy and sappy, all he thinks about is you and you and probably.. You."

"What's the last one?"

"Well, this one is the toughest one. It's the I-want-her-in-my-life-but-I- don't-want-any-commitment. These type of guys are usually selfish. He may like you very much, wants to spend all his time with you, all he can think about is how beautiful you are and how it'b be great to be your guy. He wants you, but doesn't want to be in a relationship. How selfish is that right?

"Well, that's what he thinks deep down. Usually, he doesn't even have the guts to say how he feels towards you because he's...well, a pussy. He's too scared of commitment, never liked the thought of it. And yet, he doesn't like seeing you with another guy."

She felt a string of pain tug her heart..why? She decided to stay quite, dropping her chocolate bar in her bed. Loke looked at Lucy with a funny expression. She sighed and sat up straight. He just hit the very sensitive spot right there. She couldn't believe this. Somehow, she felt as if she was shot with an arrow. Why couldn't she just forget everything that had happened? Why did she have to like the guy anyway? He would never, ever want a relationship with her.

Maybe she shouldn't have asked Loke about this.. He just made her mood so much worse.

Lucy stood up and walked over to her kitchen, throwing away the chocolate wrapper. She walked back to her room and plopped herself down on her bed. She now really thought it was time to turn her brain off for real. Too many thoughts were running through her mind that made her tired and not to mention it was quite aching her heart. As she was about to go under her comforter, Loke called her and she turned around with a frown on her face. "What?"

"I haven't answered your question you know."

Her frown deepened as she stared at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well I just told you the perspectives of a guy's mind towards a girl. Do you want to know if he's serious with you or not?"

"How?" She waited for him to continue. Even though it was really impossible, she was kind of hopping that Gray could be, somewhat..kind of..serious about her..maybe?

"If he's serious about you ..then he'd be the first one to contact you."

Lucy frowned at him. "What is that suppose to mean?"

"It's for me to say and for you to figure out." He said with a smug smile.

She gave him a suspicious look before he smirked and disappeared, going back to the spirit world.

Lucy shot down the lights of the room before falling down on her bed. Somehow it felt nice to be alone in the dark. Peace and quite.

Her mind drifted back to what Loke had told her. What the hell had he meant by that? Was that supposed to help her? She shook her head and turned off the lights on her bed stand and snuggled herself inside her covers. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to drift her off. She waited for a while.. But her mind still didn't want to stop thinking about many things. Lucy sighed and opened her eyes to watch the sun fall and the sky darkening. It wasn't even time to go to bed, but she was really tired.

Lucy heard the door of her apartment being opened and saw Gray walk in holding a couple of bags. "Are you asleep, Lucy?"

Her cheeks went a dark shade of red and she quickly sat up straight, hoping Gray wouldn't see her blush. He turned on the lights and looked over at the blonde. "I can't sleep." She admitted with a wry smile.

"Well, it is a bit early for sleeping." Gray chuckled and walked over to her kitchen, placing the bags on her kitchen table.

He began to unpack, when he heard footsteps. He turned around to find Lucy looking at him. "I got everything." He assured her as he placed the milk in the refrigerator, as with the eggs. "Thanks."

Gray smiled and nodded. He put the bread in the box near the sick and began to take out the lettuce and rinse it under the faucet.

"Gray.. You didn't happen to see..another item on the list, did you?" Her voice was shaky and he knew exactly what she was referring to.

"Yes, I did and I picked it up for you." He said, in his most steady voice. He shook the head of the lettuce once and turned to see Lucy's face a deep crimson.

He placed the lettuce on the counter and took her into his arms. "Yo r-r-really didn't need to do that, Gray," she stammered. "I could have picked it up myself, plus I don't really need them till next week."

Gray's smiled dropped. She didn't..need them? Gray sighed. He kind of expected this to happen. But somehow she know looked different from what he expected her to look. Shouldn't she be moking him for actually buying them? For having to carry them around the store and be publicly seen buying them?

Gray smiled, placing a kiss on her lips. "Whatever, guess that's what I get for making you drop your groceries. Believe me, it won't happen again."

Lucy smiled, she didn't think he would actually buy them. She was once told, by Cana, tha guys never bought those kind of things for girls. The girl must be very special to the guy for him to actually buy it for her. Lucy couldn't help but blush at the thought of her being someone special to Gray.

"I should leave. I was just at the guild and Cana and Levy were planning on coming over." Gray told her, placing a quick kiss on her forehead, making her blush even more.

He stepped away from her and smiled. "Thanks again."

Gray smirked and ruffled her hair. "It was no problem, Lucy."

And with that he left her apartment. Leaving behind a very flustered Lucy.

* * *

"All right," Cana said, bending her head over Levy's feet. She lifted the nail polish brush and poised it above the other girl's toes. "So tell us. How's Gajeel in the sack?"

Lucy choked on her ice cream and turned to see a very red Levy jerk her foot away just as Cana lowered the brush. Yellow polish streaks across her nail, ruining what had been Cana's attempt of making star shaped designs on her big toe.

"Aww, Levy! Now I have to start over..."

"What did you say?" Levy asked as Cana reached for the bottle of polish remover.

"I believe I asked how your boyfriend is in bed," Cana said, blowing her bangs out of her face. "Isn't that what you're supposed to talk about at sleepovers? Drink booze, talk about crappy romance stories while we do our hair, and talk about sex and stuff?"

"I don't think we HAVE to do all of that." Lucy mumbled, brushing her big toe nail pink. Levy blushes and looks away.

"Why do we have to talk about my sex life? Oh Lucy can I take a look at your noble, please?"

Cana's nose scrunched in distaste, and she held up a hand to stop Levy.

"Ugh, boooring. We're not here to read. We're here to have fun. And talk about non-reading/bookish stuff."

"Like sex?" Levy whispered, her cheeks flushed with combined heat from the alcohol and mortification. "I don't want to talk about my sex life!"

Cana rolled her eyes and started dabbing at Levy's big toe with a remover soacked cotton ball. "You're so boring. Plus you seemed fine the other day when we wanted Lucy to talk about her sex life. Why can't we talk about yours?" Lucy nodded at this.

"Well," Levy huffs, gulping down her drink to cover her enbarassment. She winced as brain freeze hits her and tried to concentrate on her words. "Whatever. I don't want to talk about it. That's private between Gajeel and me."

Cana whistles lowly, and tosses the now yellow-stained cotton ball away from her.

"He must be pretty bad if you don't want to talk about it."

Levy's jaw drops, and the words are flying out of her mouth before she realized this was Cana's cheap attempt at manipulating her.

"Gajeel's not bad! He's great, I'll have you know!"

She clapped a hand over her mouth, mortified she had said that, and the brown haired devil sitting at her feet smirks at her with great satisfaction.

"Score for me!" Cana smirked and Lucy sighed. "So he's good in bed, huh? You gotta give me details, Levy. When was your first time, is giving a blow job gross, what's your favorite position, how big is his-"

"Cana!" Levy squeals. "I am not telling you anything! New topic!"

"Ok, so how about you Lucy?" Cana turned over to Lucy, and the blonde rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Don't bring me up in this." She wore a serious face when she added. "Besides, this isn't about me. This is about Levy. Remember?"

"No, it's not." Levy said, rising from her seat on the bed and heading for the door when they heard a knock.

Lucy followed her short best friend and once they opened the door the found nobody.

"Huh, guess its no one." Lucy had her hand on the knob when Levy spied something on the floor and said, "Hey, what's this?"

"Woah," Cana said with a grin and snatched the object from Levy. "A red rose. I wonder who this could be from."

"Maybe this could help solve the mystery," Levy added, picking up a lavender envelope. She smelled it. "Could this be Lucy's favorite scent, vanilla?" Both girls giggled, while Lucy just put her hands on her hips and threw them both an annoyed stare.

She walked over to them and snatched the envelope out of Levy's hand. She turned it over to find her name on it.

"Its from Gray, isn't it?" Levy whispered to Lucy, smelling the rose.

"Is it from your mystery guy? Can you tell me his name now? Erza is not here.."

Lucy ignored her two friends and opened the envelope. She pulled out a note.

Sorry about what happened yesterday.. I really didn't want things to turn out the way they did.  
- Gray

She closed the note quickly, not wanting her friends to see it. She turned around and walked over to her bed.

"Hey, what did it say?" Levy asked walking after the blonde.

"Nothing." Lucy turned around and took the rose from Levy, placing it in her night stand.

As night drew in, Lucy laid in bed repeating the two sentences that Gray had written in the note. Lucy sighed and turned to watch the moon from her window.

Lucy decided to deal with this when she saw him at the guild. By then she would have the guts to actually speak to him right in front of his eyes.. She hoped so.

She shoved the letter away and quickly turned off the lights on her night stand. She closed her eyes and was about to drift off when her eyes opened again in a quick motion.

Why had he sent the letter and the rose?

Wait.

_"If he's serious about you.._ _then he'd be the first one to contact_ _you."_

Loke's words kept ringing in her head.

"_If he's serious about you.. then he'd be the first __one__ to contact you."_

Was it because of that..

Whatever it was, she was going to deal with it later. Even though she wasn't sure if it really meant what she really wanted it to mean. Lucy finally fell asleep with a smile on her lips.


	7. Chapter 7

**_ More Than Friends, Less Than_** **_Lovers_**

**_ Chapter 7~_**

Lucy was sitting in one of Fairy Tail's tables with Levy when she noticed Gray arrive at the guild. His lips were curled up into small smirk as his eyes scanned around the guild. Lucy made sure not to make eye contact, she quickly looked down to stare at her plate.

"I see lover boy over there making an entrance." Lucy heard Levy drawl beside her.

The blonde took a bite of her pepperoni pizza before she slammed the piece on her plate. "He pretty much likes attention. One grand entrance will probably never do for him."

Levy frowned at her as she glanced from Lucy to Gray, then from him to her. There was practically a big question mark on her head. "Is something going on between you two? You both are..oh I don't know, avoiding each others eyes maybe?"

Lucy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she glued her eyes on the piece of pizza in front of her. "Oh yeah? I, um, haven't really noticed."

"Oh my god, there is something going on between you two!"

"No there's not!" Lucy snapped rather quickly. She then groaned at the obvious look her best friend was giving her. "So okay, a little thing happened the other day-"

"When exactly?"

"Uh.." She thought for a while before looking back at her. "A few days ago."

"WHAT? And you didn't even plan to tell me? What the hell is going on between you two?"

Lucy sighed as she saw the look of hurt in her eyes. "Look, I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. It's just that.. well, I wasn't very sure of myself if it really happen."

"And now you're making me curious."

The celestial spirit Mage gave her a wry smile. "You're not mad at me right?"

"I will if you don't tell me what's going on by now!"

Lucy felt guilty by not telling her about what had happened with Gray. Levy stared at Lucy with wide eyes, waiting for her to start talking. The blonde took a deep breath and slowly opened her mouth and found that telling her this was much, much of a relief. Telling her best friend everything, from the friends with benefits thing to the incident at the lake to the talk with Loke and many other things that had happened, it had been such a relief. She made sure that she kept her voice down the whole time, that was why they were kind of whispering at the moment.

"So.. that's pretty much what happened." Lucy finished telling her everything that had happened these past couple of days.

Levy nodded her head slowly as she gathered all the information Lucy had told her. "Well that's kind of messed up, at least now it really is... Now that you actually have.. feelings for him..." Lucy looked away and rolled her eyes but nonetheless nodded at what she had said. "And let me get this straight, after he sent you that letter saying he was sorry.. you guys never talked again? And it's all because you've been avoiding him these past few days?"

Lucy went silent for a while before answering her question with a small frown on her face. "Well, uh.. yeah.." Her frown deepened. "I know that avoiding him is not the way to deal with this but I just can't talk to him yet."

"I think you should talk to him soon." Levy sent her a sad smiled as the blonde sighed miserably. "So tell me, does Loke, by any chance, know any of this?"

Lucy shook her head slowly. "Not that I know of..."

She nodded quietly and went back to her food. After a moment of silence, she looked back up at Lucy and tilted her head to one side. "You know, don't you think you should tell Loke about this?"

Lucy blinked her eyes at her. "Why should I?"

"I don't know.. Gray is his closest friend. And you did ask Loke for help on your relationship with Gray.. You just missed telling him it was Gray.."

"He doesn't really have to know what's going on between Gray and I. I mean, it was kind of a one thing , you know what I mean? I don't really think anything's bound to ever happen again."

"How can you say that? He sent you a letter saying he was sorry! He sent you that beautiful rose as well! You've even been to his apartment! Not many people have gone there before. Not even those girls he picks up at bars."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "And I suppose you think that that's a good thing?"

Levy looked at Lucy like she was crazy. The blonde shook her head lightly and found herself looking at his direction. So okay, she failed no to look at him.. but hey, at least he wasn't looking her way. "You know the thing is, I'm not even sure where we're.. okay, let me put it this way." Lucy looked back at her. "Nothing more is going to happen so Loke, or anyone else from the guild, need to know anything."

"Lucy, oh Lucy." She drawled dramatically and wrapped her arms around Lucy and placed the blonde's head on her shoulder. "You know I can see through your lies."

"I'm not lying, mother."

She pulled away but still held the blonde in arms length. "Sarcasm is such a bad habit."

"So is also butting in your best friend's business."

"I'm not butting in." She let go of Lucy and took a sip of her grape juice. "I'm just making sure you don't hurt yourself."

"I'll be fine. I promise, I won't walk around at night alone."

She rolled her eyes and gave Lucy a pointed look. "You're right, I'm not the one who's supposed to be worried about you. You'll just have to deal with Erza whenever she finds out. Besides, wouldn't it be great when she'll finally find out about you screwing your teammate without having any kind of relationship?"

Lucy groaned loudly and banged her head on the table. "Don't mention it."

* * *

She wished it hadn't been snowing today. She had planned to go out for a nice walk around town with Plue but now she was stuck in her apartment, sitting in her couch with a cup of hot chocolate in her hand.

It wasn't a blizzard, though it was freezing outside and the streets were filled with snow. Lucy had no intention of stepping out of her warm apartment. And plus, just feeling the cold weather made her think of someone she was trying really hard not to think about.

Lucy stared at her window as she watched snowflakes pour down. Although, she had to say, that those white things coming down from the sky were quite a thing to see.

"It's done!"

Lucy looked over at her kitchen, looking away from her window, and missing all the small snowflakes making their way down.

Mira opened the kitchen door widely with her back and walked inside Lucy's room towards her. That's when Lucy saw a plate of chocolate cake on her hand with two spoons on her other hand. She sat next to the blonde on her couch and gave her a grin. "It took a while but its done and it looks delicious."

Lucy rolled her eyes at her but grinned sheepishly as she took a spoon from her. "You're making me fat, you know that?"

"Nonsense! In fact, I think you need to fatten yourself up."

Lucy looked at her with a blank face. Was she kidding? Lucy always tried to take care of her body. Always trying to be as fit as possible. It was all part of her sex appeal and she needed to keep it. A blush spread over her face as she thought of Gray. Why was she thinking of him?!

The blonde mage took a spoonful of the cake and savored the taste in her mouth. It tasted so, so good. A small moan left her mouth as she found herself closing her mouth and Mira chuckled at her while she took a spoonful as well.

Lucy finally opened her eyes and looked at Mira. "It's nice of you to come over and spend some time with me. I really don't like the cold so I just prefer staying here. Also thanks for baking the cake, its delicious."

Mira smiled at her. "Its no problem Lucy. I love spending time with you. And I'm happy you liked the cake."

Silence came next again while Mira and Lucy ate the cake quietly. She gave Lucy curious glances but the blonde didn't dare to meet her eyes because then Mira would surely know if somethings up. Mira tended to have the ability to do that.

"Is something wrong?"

Lucy blushed at her sudden question and tried her best to avoid any eye contact from her. "N-no. Why do you ask?"

The celestial mage saw her shrug from the corner of her eyes. "You're so quiet.. and you're avoiding eye contact. Come on, tell me what's wrong."

"I'm fine, Mira." Lucy answered, too quickly for her liking.

"I didn't ask if you were fine, I asked you to tell what's in your head right now. You obviously have something in your mind."

"I don't!"

"Lucy, you're a very bad liar."

The blonde sighed and looked over at Mira. "Yeah, I know."

She grinned at Lucy smugly as she chewed on her cake. "So who's the boy?"

"Who said anything about a boy?"

Mira rolled her eyes. "Come on, who's the boy?"

Lucy gritted her teeth and crossed her arms stubbornly. "There is no boy, Mira."

"Don't lie to me, Lucy. You better tell me now or we'll do this the hard way."

There was something in Mira's eyes that made Lucy shiver. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Fine. I'm just going to say this once, Mira, once."

Mira nodded eagerly and scooted closer to her. Lucy took a deep breath, needing to calm herself down. "Well let's just say there is..a boy-"

"I knew it!"

"Don't interrupt," Lucy gave Mira a look and she nodded while she closed her mouth tightly gesturing that she locked her lips and threw the invisible key away. The blonde rolled her eyes but nonetheless continues. "We both..were attracted to one another and things..well, things went on after a pretty rough night of..alcohol." She cringed a little and glanced at Mira in case she didn't approved of what she had just said. But she just smiled at her and motioned her to go on.

"It's pretty dumb or even immature for us to act like that, it's pretty cliché if I say so myself. The nest few days I found myself with him even more..short story, now I find myself falling deeper towards him and it doesn't seem like he wants anything serious with me. He will never commit himself into a relationship. I'm just a foolish girl that thought everything would go out just fine without me liking him. Huh, turns out I was wrong all along."

Lucy knew she had left out a lot of things, but what she had told Mira had been awkward enough.. She didn't have to go into details.

She groaned and buried her head in her palms. "Does this make me stupid, Mira?"

She felt Mira wrap her arms around her and she placed her head on Mira's shoulder. "Of course not, it only makes you human. It's normal for someone to fall for a person they weren't expecting to fall for. Love is unexpected, we can't really plan it."

At the mentioning of love Lucy's heartbeats quickened. Was she in love with Gray? She really didn't thinks so.

"I'm not even sure if I can call this love. It's just when I'm around him, I feel so happy and warm. He makes me smile just by seeing him. And he makes me feel things I've never felt before... But either way, this will never work. He probably doesn't even like me."

"It sounds like love to me," Mira smiled sweetly at Lucy. "I know you won't tell me who he is, whoever the guy is.. is stupid enough not to like you. Trust me, he's the one that's stupid."

Lucy smiled and looked away. Was Gray stupid? Of course. There was no doubt. But a part of her understood why he didn't want a relationship. Maybe she didn't understand it all but she kind of did. Though, she was sure of one thing. Loke had been right, Gray could be selfish. Not even considering her feelings.. Though she had been ok with the no feelings thing and just sex before..

"I guess he is stupid.. But I did stupid decisions as well."

"Yeah, you did. But we all do." Mira grinned at her and picked up a spoon to continue eating the cake.

Lucy rolled her eyes and they both went silent once again. She picked up her spoon and licked the chocolate off of it.

"Is he the same guy that took your virginity?"

Lucy's eyes snapped at her and felt her cheeks burning hotly. "Mira!"

"I was just asking, jeez, no need to be mad like that." She winked at her before she laughed and stood up, grabbing the plate of cake and placing it on the table. "I'm glad you told me all of this. I'm happy that you finally told me what's been going on."

Lucy smiled, she honestly was glad she had talked with Mira. "Me too."

"Well I should make my way back to the guild." Mira started making her way towards Lucy's door, and just before leaving she turned towards Lucy and grinned. "Gray can be a stupid boy at times, huh?"

Lucy's eyes widened and she stared at Mira in complete shock. Mira winked and left Lucy's apartment with a grin. She wasn't known as the matchmaker for nothing.

Lucy blinked her eyes a couple of times before standing up and rushing towards her door.

"Mira how did you know?!"

* * *

Lucy grabbed a sweater and put on some boots so she could go out for a walk with Plue. She was in the middle of tying up the boots when Gray walked into her apartment. That's right. Walked in. He didn't even knock or anything. "W-what do you want?" Lucy asked, cursing for her stuttering.

He grinned. "You." Lucy rolled her eyes, she had heard that before. From who? That shouldn't be such a mystery. She moved to get a hair-tie from her dresser. Gray laughed. "You walked into that. I had to take it."

"What do you want?" Lucy repeated. She was putting her hair up in a pony tail and swung around to him. His eyes snapped to hers and she frowned. "What were you looking at?"

She saw a light blush cover his cheeks as he coughed and turned. "I was looking for my jacket. I think I left it here last time." Lucy crossed her arms as she watched him walk over to her desk chair where she had thrown his jacket last night and picked it up.

Lucy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Is that all?"

Gray let out a light chuckle. "Why so defensive?"

"Why are you at my apartment?" She shot back.

He lifted his jacket. "I already told you."

"You didn't have to walk in here like you own the place. You could have asked me for it."

Rolling his eyes he moved to sit on the chair. "Really? Because you didn't even say hi to me at the guild or anything. I kind of got the feeling you didn't want me to talk to you."

He was slowly spinning in the chair and it was starting to irritate the blonde. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't say hi to his royal highness," she said sarcastically. "What makes you think it's okay to walk into my apartment without even bothering to knock when you already have the feeling that I don't want to talk to you?"

"Are you hiding something, or what?" He asked and started looking around her room for anything worthy of hiding.

"No!" She shouted. "What if I had been changing?!"

He stopped spinning and smirked at her. "You really think that's going to stop me from walking in?"

Lucy blushed. "It's disrespectful."

"It's a compliment. Take it for what it is, Luce." Gray grinned.

"That is not a compliment," She said and crossed her arms.

"Then what is a compliment?" Gray asked and stretched his legs in front of him, waiting for her to answer.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Saying I like your shirt is a compliment. Or your shoes are awesome. You're smart. You have a very nice smile. You have nice ey-" Lucy stopped short realizing that the compliments were being based off of him.

Gray noticed it too, a grin slowly stretching onto his face. "Oh, there's no need to stop. You can keep going."

Lucy blushed again. "If you're thinking those are about you, they're not. They're examples." Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie.

Gray got up and took a step closer to Lucy. "Then why are you blushing?" Obviously he didn't believe her either.

She felt her face get a little warmer. "I get red when I get angry."

"You're angry?" He asked taking another step closer.

She stood her ground. "You're annoying."

"I like it when you blush." Gray moved another step.

Lucy crossed her arms. "You have a big head."

"I like your shirt." One more step.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm wearing a sweater."

Gray's eyes wouldn't stay from hers as he took another step. "Your shoes are awesome."

"Compliments are only genuine if they're original. Not if you repeat the examples I gave you."

"Fine." He said, moving closer. She couldn't help it. She stepped back. Gray grinned. "I love to see how you get nervous around me."

"Nervous?" She scoffed.

He took another step and she moved one back. "I like that you think you know how to lie but you can't."

She swallowed, as she felt the wall behind her. "It's not fair that you always corner me."

"But you like it. And don't try lying. I told you. You don't know how to lie." Gray grinned and took another step, now only inches from Lucy.

"I don't like feeling like I'm an animal that's being hunted." She glared at him, pressing herself against the wall as much as possible.

Gray ignored her. "I love your smile." He gazed down at her mouth for about a second then snapped back to her eyes. He placed his hands on either side of her head, against the wall. Lucy could feel every inch of them touching as he grinned and said. "And your eyes."

"I think I've had enough compliments." She forced out, trying, in vain, to keep her voice from shaking and her knees from wobbling.

"You know what I love the most about you though?" He asked, leaning his head down to her, their foreheads touching.

She could hear all sorts of alarms going off in her head. What was she doing?! Technically, she wasn't doing anything. Which was exactly the problem. Why wasn't she trying to push him off? Why was she concentrating on his deep blue eyes? Why was she asking, "What?"

Gray grinned. "I love that you haven't thrown away your present." His eyes traveled to her night stand and with horror she gasped. The rose was still there! She hadn't moved it from there since she got it..

As much as she wanted to push him off or scream at him or anything, really, she couldn't concentrate enough as he lowered his lips to hers, not quite touching. "Guess you liked it.. I'm glad, Luce." His breath blew across her lips. Minty. Either he has just brushed his teeth or he had been chewing on something minty.

Lucy mentally splapped herself, trying to regain focus. "I never got to thank you for that." Her eyes slowly looked up to meet his, and quickly looked back down. "It's really pretty, thanks."

Gray grinned and his eyes drifted back to her lips. Lucy heard her conscience sigh somewhere in the back of her head, giving in as she started to let her eyelids close. She felt him move one hand down to her waist and she wanted to rum away but part of her really wanted to kiss Gray again. She really hadn't noticed, but she really liked how he kissed her. He would always be so gentle, so perfect. At that, her eyes snapped open, especially when she heard the pounding knocks on her door.

She pushed Gray off as she heard a few voices coming from outside her apartment door. "Lu-chan!" Levy was exclaiming as she ran into Lucy's apartment, freezing as she took in Gray and Lucy's startled looks. Cana tumbled into her.

They straightened themselves and Cana glanced between Gray and her blonde friend. Lucy was sure her face was red. She could feel it. "Did we interrupt something?" Levy asked, crossing her amrs, a grin on her face.

Lucy rolled her eyes, willing her face to get back to its normal color. "No, unless you mean the punch I was about to give Gray."

"Why are you so red?" Cana asked, scrutinizing Lucy's face.

"Because I got annoyed. And when I get annoyed I get angry. And when I get angry I get red." Lucy grabbed a jacket and skid it on. "Why are you guys here?"

"We're going to play truth or dare at the guild." Cana grinned. "Mira's idea. But it sounds like fun. You guys in?"

Gray grinned. "Sure."

Cana grinned and turned to Lucy. "Come on Lucy, you in?"

Lucy blinked. "Uh, no thanks. I'm taking Plue out."

"It's starting to snow outside, granted, it's really light." Levy said.

"So?" Lucy asked. She needed to get out especially if Gray was planning on going over to the guild. Yeah, she had to leave. Being with Gray wasn't good for her heartbeats. The speed her heart was tumping at the moment was anything but normal.

"You hate the cold." Levy reminded the blonde.

Lucy forced a laugh out. "No I don't, silly."

Levy's eyebrows shot up. "Silly?"

The blonde pushed her way through them. "I'm leaving. Everyone out of my apartment."

They filed out, Gray grinning at Lucy as he walked out. Levy stayed put though and didn't leave. Lucy blinked at her. "What?"

"You two were about to kiss, huh?" Her face was ecstatic and Lucy rolled her eyes trying to ignore the heat that rushed to her face.

"Don't even try to start teasing me, Levy-chan."

"Aha! I knew it! Did you guys talk?"

"Bye Levy-chan." Lucy said walking out of her apartment, a trembling Plue in her arms.

"Lu-chan!" She exclaimed running after the blonde. Lucy kept walking and sighed. "Fine!" Levy shouted, turning around and following Cana and Gray towards the guild. "I'll find out eventually!"

Lucy let out a soft laugh as she walked around town. Five minutes into their walk, Lucy was cursing herself. She hated the cold. What was she doing walking with Plue in this weather? How stupid could she get?

She sighed and muttered to herself. "Stupid enough to want to kiss Gray." This time she really did slap herself . She did not just say that.. Ugh! She was supposed to be forgetting about Gray not wanting to kiss him!

Lucy walked over to the park and took a sit at a bench, looking up to see small snowflakes make their way down to the ground.

"Lucy?" The blonde turned around and smiled when she saw the man that stood a few steps away from her.

His blonde hair moved with the cold wind and his blue eyes stared into her brown ones as he smiled at her.

* * *

A/N: Well let's see how many of you can guess who this new guy is! Haha, it's pretty obvious.. Thanks for reading!

~IceKeys121


	8. Chapter 8

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 8~_**

Lucy couldn't help but to form her lips into a small smile as she saw Sting run towards her.

Sting is a nice guy, Lucy learned this after the magic games were over. At first she thought he was a bit cocky but his attitude slowly changed. She didn't really talk to him during the tournament but she got to talk to him a little after the games. After that she found him around Magnolia. She hanged with him that day and the two became friends. Lucy didn't tell anyone of her encounter with Sting at that time, she only told Levy, of course. They met up at times, could be around Magnolia or in between jobs. As she kept hanging out with him, she came to realize that maybe she could feel something more than just friendship.

Sting is a sweet guy, a little perverted at times, but he's still pretty nice. His blond hair and blue eyes resembled the perfect prince she had always dreamed of. His blond hair now moved with the wind and Lucy smiled, she loved to touch his hair when they were dating.

Yeah, Sting was her only ex.

They went out for only a month and they had both kept it a secret. Lucy liked hanging out with him but as time passed she realized that she wasn't sure if Sting really was the one. She didn't like keeping her relationship a secret from her friends and she wanted to tell everyone but Sting didn't want to make it public. They broke up soon after that. Not only because of that but also because he went to clingy on Lucy and always wanted to touch her and of course she'd always get mad. But he was still a gentlemen after they broke up; most guys get mad when their girlfriend ends the relationship because the girl didn't want to give them 'some'. Well Sting didn't exactly rape her if thats what you're thinking, he just asked Lucy if they could have sex and she said no then he went grumpy..so she dumped him. Then he realized what he had asked her and apologized too many times to even count.

It's funny how Lucy didn't want her ex-boyfriend to touch her long ago when she's now having sex with a guy she doesn't even have a relationship with.

"Hey Sting," She smiled at him when he reached her. He looked fine, a gorgeous guy, she had to admit.

"Lucy, how are you?" he asked while he sat beside Lucy and grinned one of his lopsided grins.

"Meh, I've had better days. What are you doing around here?"

"My mission was close by and I decided to take a walk around Magnolia. I saw you sitting here alone and insisted to be your company for now."

Lucy gave him a knowing smile. "So you also feel bored, perhaps by any chance its because Lector and Rogue decided to stay inside instead of coming out to this cold weather?"

He sighed and nodded his head. "They decided to stay in the hotel. They didn't feel like walking around in the cold. I think Rogue just doesn't like the possibility of his balls freezing to death."

Lucy laughed at his words and shook her head with laughter. "That's pretty mean."

"And it's pretty true."

Lucy wrapped her arms around her shoulders as the wind started to blow harder. Sting saw this from the corner of his eyes and scooted closer to her with a grin on his face. She knew he was going to do this, but she let him anyway. The cold was too much for her to handle all by herself with her thin jacket.

She rested her head on his shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her. "You should've done that sooner."

"You should've asked." He teased her playfully.

Lucy let out a shaky laugh and let the atmosphere around them calm her. They caught up with what they've been missing out and talked about many things. It was nice for Lucy to talk to him, it was better than sitting there alone and bored. And probably thinking about Gray..

Sting looked at Lucy with a weird expression. "Hey can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

He seemed a little nervous but managed to stay cool and calmed. Lucy wondered how people did that. For her, if she was nervous, people could tell easily and then she'd become more nervous by the second.

"Look I don't know how to say this..."

"What's wrong? You can tell me anything. I'll even keep a secret for you." She bumped her shoulder with his. She didn't know if that could prove him anything, but she kind of did it to encourage him to talk.

He chuckled quietly before turning away to look at the snow that puddled up on the ground. "Uh, you know how I messed up our, you know, relationship?" He asked without looking at Lucy.

"Uh..."

Sting lightly massaged the back of his neck with his free hand. "I was wondering if you wanna go out again sometime..."

And by that, Lucy sat up straight and blinked her eyes in shook.

She was not expecting that.

Oh my god, did Sting just ask her out? Her, his ex that didn't want him to get in her pants? Why in the hell would he want to go out with her...again? It was weird for her to be asked out again since she hasn't even dated in a long time. Of course the last date she had was with Sting himself (Gray didn't count since it was just sex). But still, a date? She felt butterflies in her stomach and she could feel her palms sweating.

"Sting, I..."

Sting looked at Lucy eventually. "Look, you don't have to answer me now. I know I ruined our relationship and well, I just...I kind of missed you since then."

Lucy gaped, her mouth hanged open and she was almost sure someone could fit a fist in there.

Oh what to do? Did she even like him? Well he's cute and nice, but she didn't want to secretly date him again. She also didn't want him to try and take things to the next level whenever he feels like it. Although he said he was sorry and acted much like a gentlemen, you could never trust a guy like that. Right? "Its that, well, I don't want you going all, you know..."

Well this was awkward, Lucy thought lamely.

"Just a date, I promise. I miss hanging out with you, you know? Remember the time we both decided to ditch our guilds for a while and left to that amusement park for a couple of days? I miss that. I miss hanging out with you like this. You're such a fun person to be with." He said. Lucy stared at him, looking for the truth in his eyes..She didn't know. He was pretty much giving her a compliment on how nice she was. And he did look kind of sincere, she had to give him a score on that.

Still she had a confused face on, frowning and all. "Sting..."

"Why are you here with him?"

Lucy bit her tongue from groaning at his sudden presence. Stupid, stupid her. Of course he would be there when something like this came up. He just had the power to be anywhere when she didn't want his presence at all.

She finally looked up at him and shot him a look that said 'piss off'. Unfortunately, he didn't get her message and just stood there in front of Sting and Lucy who were in the middle of a very serious conversation.

"Go away." She plainly managed to speak out although her voice didn't sound too convincing. Lucy cleared her throat and opened her mouth again. "Go away." She repeated in a voice she was quite proud of.

Gray just lifted his stupid eyebrow at her and gave an amused smile towards her.

Sting decided to stand up and Gray was now aware of his presence again. Sting gave Lucy a grin and ignored the disapproving looks Gray was giving him. "It's fine, we'll talk later." He walked down a few steps and turned around again before leaving.

"Just think about it, okay?" Then he walked away with a soft smile when Lucy nodded slowly.

Gray looked confused. "What the hell is going on?"

Lucy ignored him and quickly stood up. "Sting!" The dragon slayer turned around with an unreadable expression on his face.

"It was nice seeing you again! I'll definitely think about it!" Lucy's cheeks flushed when she saw him chuckle and grin. He waved a hand at her and smiled.

"Yeah it was nice seeing you too." He gave her one last smile before turning around and walking away. Lucy let out a sigh and smiled.

She sat back down and took Plue in her arms, he had been sitting down next to her the whole time and Lucy had nearly forgotten he was even there.

"What was that all about?" Gray asked, looking completely annoyed at what had just happened between Lucy and Sting.

Lucy glared at him while he settled himself beside her. "None of your business."

"He just asked you out, didn't he?" His blue eyes looked darker and she tensed up, looking away from him.

She rolled her eyes. "Why ask when you know the answer?"

Gray's jaw tightened and his hands curled up into tight fists. "I didn't know you guys talked..or even hanged out...Are you friends with him or something?" His voice sounded deeper than usual, a bit demanding as well, and somehow hurt.

Lucy turned around and studied his face. He sure wasn't looking happy about any of this. "We've been friends for a while.. We started hanging out a while after the magic games."

He raised an eyebrow and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "You two..you were just friends with him?" Lucy was about to tell him everything about her relationship with Sting but stopped right when her eyes landed on his. The way he looked at her made her heart sink. He looked so hurt, like if he had just been cheated on. Lucy knew he had no reason to feel like that but just by seeing him look like that she decide to stop and nod. "We were just friends. We still are."

Gray's eyes brightened and he sat up straight. He smiled at Lucy and she felt her heartbeats go like crazy. She turned away, trying to hide the blush that was forming on her cheeks.

All she could focus on was the pounding of her heart which she was sure Gray could hear.

"So," Gray said, grinning, moving closer to Lucy with exaggerated slowness. "I wanted to talk to you but we really didn't get a chance to at your apartment.. since you were so annoyed at the idea of me just walking inside your apartment."

He sat so close to Lucy that she could feel their shoulders touching. "Do you have a minute?" Gray asked.

Lucy blinked and images of her running away and slipping in the snow was the only think popping in her head so she stayed rooted to her spot.

Gray's hand on hers (not the one holding Plue) stopped all thought. She couldn't focus on anything else. Not the cold wind that was making her nose all red, not the sounds Plue was making, not on her loud heartbeats.

Just them. Outside in the snow, sitting on a bench. Gray lifted their hands between them and her face flushed as she caught her small hand holding Gray's tightly. She cleared her throat, fighting with herself to focus.

"Talk?" She couldn't even form a full sentence!

His smirk stopped her heart for a moment. "You keep avoiding me." A statement. Not a question. A statement. So,. she figured she didn't have to reply with anything to that. Instead, she could focus on the soft circles he was drawing with his thumb on her wrist. "I want to know why that is."

She stopped staring at her wrist where his hand was still drawing circles and looked up at him who was looking at their hands. He continued talking. "Because, I have my own personal opinions on why that is but I might be wrong."

"I-uh-"

Gray smirked again and lifted his gaze from their hands to her eyes. "You want to know what I think?" He didn't bother to wait for her incoherent answer as he moved closer, narrowing the small space between them. "I think you like me."

Lucy's face turned a bright red and she shook her head as fast as she could. "Of course not! I have no feelings for you!" Her face felt hot. Gray chuckled lightly and dropped her hand.

"That's what I thought." He stood up and raffled her hair. "There's no way you'd fall for me. After all, we're just friends with benefits. Just sex." Lucy looked at him with wide eyes and soon her gaze dropped to the ground filled with snow. "Yeah..."

After a few seconds she saw Gray's hand in front of her face. She looked up to see him with his hand extended out for her. "I actually came for you. Everyone is at the guild playing truth or dare. I don't think you would like to miss out." Lucy smiled and took his hand, standing up and sighing.

"I guess..It sounds like fun."

They started walking to Fairy Tail, and after a few minuets of walking Lucy noticed Gray's hand still holding hers. She blushed and looked up at him. He was looking straight ahead at the street. The snow was lightly falling and sticking to his dark hair. He grinned.

"Is something wrong?" He turned to look at her, his deep blue eyes locking with her brown ones. She blushed and tried to look away but she just found herself struggling more to find the right words to say.

"N-no..I-I."

He smiled, taking a few steps closer to her. "Puu-puun." Gray looked down to see Plue in Lucy's arm, close to her chest, and looking up at him. He chuckled and leaned into Lucy and kissed her, right under the yellow glow of the street lamp, as the snow swirled down around them. His lips were cold, yet they felt warm against her cold lips, she couldn't help but smile into the kiss.

Standing there under the snow, kissing Gray, made Lucy realize that she really wanted more. She wanted to be able to kiss him whenever she wanted. She didn't want to keep another relationship from the guild. She wanted to go on dates with Gray, she wanted to be his girlfriend...

Gray stepped away from her and smiled, giving her hand a light squeeze before resuming their walk towards the guild. The rest of the way there she stayed silent, looking down at Plue every few seconds, and smiling every time Plue would look from Gray to her.

Lucy and Gray walked inside the guild, only to find most of the guild members completely drunk. Lucy could hear Natsu's loud laughs. He stood in the middle of the guild with flushed cheeks, caused from the alcohol. A half naked Cana walked around the guild with a barrel saying how everyone was a pussy for not taking her dares. Gajeel and Levy sat in corner with flushed cheeks. And Mira was siting in the middle, her hands in her head as she shook her head in annoyance. "None of you know how this game goes." She murmured with a dark aura.

Both Gray and Lucy turned to look at each other, both sweat droping at the scene in front of them,and without saying anything, they both turned around and left the guild.

* * *

Lucy walked inside her apartment and let out and long sigh. After Gray dropped her at her apartment, she felt kind of pissed off when she entered her room. It was probably because of the devil himself...but it was also the fact that she had tried so hard to forget about her damn feelings for him, only to later realize that she wanted even more, she wanted to date the guy..She definitely was going crazy.

She heard something hit her window and quickly turned around. She starred at her window with raised eyebrows and then she heard the same sound again. She stepped closer, only to realize that someone was throwing rocks a her window. She looked out her window and saw Sting looking up at a her with a grin.

"Guess I couldn't wait for you to look for me.. I just came to tell you that I'm leaving tomorrow night.. Maybe if you're up for the date we could go tomorrow?" Sting shrugged and gave her a playful smile.

Lucy lightly giggled. Without thinking about it twice she nodded, agreeing that she would like to go out on a date with him. She saw him grin.

"Then I'll pick you up tomorrow." Sting smiled up at her and she smiled back. "Tomorrow it is." She assured him with a wink. He chuckled and walked away. Lucy waved a hand at him and he waved back, yelling out a goodnight.

"Goodnight.." Lucy whispered as she saw him disappear into the night.

She closed her window and laid down on her bed. She stared at the ceiling for a bit, before she curled up in her bed and sighed. After laying in her bed for a while she realized what she had done. What was up with her doing something without thinking right? She might want a relationship with Gray but he sure as hell didn't want something like that. However, Sting did. He wanted to try again with her and she wasn't going to let her chance of getting a nice, stable relationship pass away.

Lucy laid under her covers and let out one last sigh before closing her eyes, wishing for sweet dreams to drift her away.

* * *

_Lucy found herself sitting at the same bench she had been with Gray. Snow dropping on her lap and Plue sitting close to her chest looking up at the falling snowflakes. Lucy felt something cold, yet warm, holding her hand. She turned around only to find Gray sitting next to her. His smirked stopped her heart for a moment._

_"You keep avoiding me." He stated. Lucy arched an eyebrow. This had happened before. Lucy focused on the soft circles he was drawing with his thumb on her wrist as she tried to figure out what was going on. "I want to know why that is." Yep, this definitely had happened before._

_Lucy stopped staring at her wrist and looked up at him who was still looked at their hands. He continued to speak. "Because, I have my own personal opinions on why that is but I might be wrong."_

_Lucy stared at him with wide eyes. Was she reliving this moment or something? Had she gone back in time or was her head playing dumb tricks on her? Or was this a dream? Yep, that seemed like the most logical reason. She slapped her cheek once..twice..three times...four times..five times..Why the hell wasn't she waking up?!_

_Gray looked at Lucy with a funny expression and Lucy's cheeks were all red from embarrassment and all the slapping._

_"Are you okay?" Gray asked, trying to look serious but Lucy could tell his was trying really hard not to laugh._

_"I-uh- I'm fine."_

_Gray smirked again and lifted his gaze from their hands to her eyes. "You want to know what I think?" He didn't bother to wait for her incoherent answer as he scooted closer, narrowing the small space between them. "I think you like me."_

_Lucy was going to deny it, just like she had done the first time. Honestly, she was but he placed a finger over her lips, stopping her denial before she could even start it. "I think you're about to deny it and lie to me." Gray's finger traced over her cheek. "I think you're blushing now because you know I'm right." He moved closer. "I think I really like you." His hand cupped her cheek. She was now blushing a deep red. He liked her? Her heartbeats were so loud she could feel her red ears thump as well. "I think I really want to kiss you." His lips were hovering hers, she shut her eyes, and as he spoke his next words they brushed against hers. "I think you're going to let me."_

_And she did. She let him kiss her._

Lucy's eyes fluttered opened. She looked around her dark room, listening to her breathing and her loud heartbeats. She took a deep breath and sighed. Looking up at her ceiling, she placed a hand over her lips, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red as she remembered her dream. It had seemed so real.. She wished it was real.. she couldn't help but wonder if that would've happened if she had stayed silent.. Would he had confessed if she hand't denied her feelings for him? Lucy let out a long sigh and looked over at her window, staring at the full moon, and wishing that dream had been real.

* * *

**A/N:** So Sting has joined the story! And just to clear any doubts, I chose him because more people reviewed for him instead of Hibiki or anyone else.. So I decided to go with the most votes.. And he is Lucy's ex! Quite a shocker.. How many of you actually saw that coming? To tell you the truth, I wasn't even planning for that but I kind of like were this is going.. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Thanks for reading!

~IceKeys121


	9. Chapter 9

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 9~_**

Lucy stood in front of her mirror in her bathroom, staring at her reflection. For tonight, she had decided to wear a simple dark blue dress that hung above her knees and had sparkling glitter across the waist that looked nice with her silver heels. Her face was painted with nice soft make-up and she decided to pile her hair into a neat bun.

The doorbell rang suddenly and for some weird reason, Lucy wished it hadn't. Lucy walked over to her door and found a fine looking Sting in a comfortable dress shirt underneath a jacket. He stood in front of Lucy with a huge smile plastered on his face. She forgot that he looked beautifully handsome.

"You look gorgeous." He said in dazed as his eyes scanned her body from head to toe. Lucy smiled at him and grabbed her jacket near the door.

"Shall we go?"

He nodded and she linked her arm in his as he gave her one of his dazzling smiles again. They walked out of her apartment and started walking through the streets. It was crazy to go out with Sting again. This was her ex, the guy (the ONLY guy) she had ever dated. She had gone to some dates with some random guys she would meet but they always ended after a couple of little dates or even after just one date. Sting was the only guy she had ever really dated. Her longest relationship was with him, huh, her longest relationship only lasted a month...That was just sad... Well Sting was the only ex she had and now she found herself walking with him with linked arms. "Where are we going?" She asked as they kept walking.

He glanced at her slightly and gave her a cocky grin. "You'll see."

She did see, and what she was seeing now was his gorgeous face and the way the light from the streets lightened a part of him...making a dark silhouette across his face. Why had he asked her out? Did he like her again? Or he still liked her all along? Maybe this time he planned on making their relationship public? No more hiding away from her friends to be able to go on dates with Sting..But wasn't she kind of keeping this date a secret from her friends at the moment? She hadn't told anyone about her date, not even Levy...She didn't even tell her friends she had been with Sting yesterday..Only Gray knew.

She had been mad at Sting when they broke up but her, being a good person, still kept a nice friendship with him. Even though it was different than the relationship they had before. Lucy didn't know why but now as she watched him walk beside her, she had the urge to kiss him.

She shook her head and looked away from him. She could've sworn Gray's face lit up just a second ago. Ugh! What was wrong with that guy? Why ruin her date? Why now? Why ever? She really needed to stop thinking about him...

"You okay?"

Lucy looked up at Sting and gave him a tug on her lips which she hoped looked like a smile. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "You seemed to space out and frown. What were you thinking?"

"Oh you know, just some...thoughts."

"About what?"

A guy, more specifically about Gray. "Nothing important, now where are you actually taking me?" She asked, trying to end the topic and enjoy her night without Gray disturbing her mind.

That was when she felt him stop. "Look ahead," She could feel the smiled in his voice.

It was a fancy restaurant and she remembered it clearly. This was the place he had taken her out for their very first date. God, it felt like she was reliving that moment all over again. It had only been six months from the brake up but it felt like she hadn't been here for years, which were only seven months. It felt weird, like a big déjà vu as they walked hand in hand into the restaurant. She mentally noted to herself to not do anything stupid because the last they were there she bumped into a waiter and then he went stumbling with a big crash of glasses and well-paid dishes.

Oh the humiliation.

They were showed to their table and Sting seemed to remember the little incident as they sat down. "I hope we don't meet that waiter again."

Lucy groaned silently. "Don't remind me."

He gave her a sly grin before ordering his food. Their dinner went better than she had expected and she found herself enjoying the dating stuff again. It had been a while since she dated anyone. She couldn't remenber the last date she had been to.

They laughed and talked, danced to a couple of slow songs and she couldn't help but smile as she remembered that Sting wasn't good at dancing, at all! She had to guide him and he stepped on her foot a cuple of times. She couldn't help but smile throughout the entire date.

They finished their food and stepped out into the cold with their bodies pressed against each other. He wrapped an arm around her possessively as the wind started to pick up.

"Lets have a walk." Sting suggested and Lucy leaned against his body. He guided her across the road and she smiled at how cute they must look.

"Where are we going?"

"Here." They stepped inside the small park ahead of them and walked around in silence. The snow was starting to flow down and she grinned at how perfect this night was turning out.

"So you're leaving tonight?" Lucy asked after a moment of silence, trying to start a descent coversation between them.

Sting just shrugged and looked down. "I'm not quite sure. I might try an convince Rogue to stay a couple more nights if things turn out well with this special girl I've got my eyes on."

Lucy smiled and looked away, trying to hide the pinkness in her cheeks. "Really?"

"Yeah, she's quite a beauty. Has a killer smile and beautiful brown eyes."

Lucy leaned closer to Sting to make herself warmer. "She sounds like a pretty girl."

Sting sighed. "She's not pretty, she's beautiful. Any guy would be lucky to have her...and I'm hoping she gives me a second chance.."

Lucy's cheeks were burning red as she stopped in front of him. "You think I'm b-beaut-tiful?"

"Yeah, who wouldn't?" Sting smirked when he saw her eyes widen and her cheeks turn a darker shade of red.

Without any signs, Sting suddenly stepped forward and cupped her face in his hands. His expression became serious, the humor was gone and she felt her stomach kicking inside of her repeatedly. She forgot how his eyes could hunt her and hyptonize her like crazy, she forgot how gorgeous he was and how nice he always smelt. She closed her eyes and felt a pang of guiltiness that was stupid for her to feel.

Oh god, there we go again with Gray's face.

"Lucy, I know I screwed up everything and it took me this long to approach you again. Its just that I didn't know how you really felt about me and I know I was being such a pig when we dated but...I never stopped liking you." Sting breathed out and Lucy could feel his mighty breath against her cheek. Why was he saying this so suddenly?

"Sting..."

"When I saw you with Gray yesterday I got so jealous and finally realized what a stupid mistake I had done." Lucy's eyes were wide as she stared at Sting as he took a deep breath and continued.

"Will you give me a chance? Lucy, you don't know how much I regret how things ended between us. I promise I'll make it up to you."

Say yes...or no? Consider or no? Push or...pull in?

She didn't know what to say, all she knew was that Sting was slowly closing the gap between them and she was just standing there, nervous of him kissing her. Somehow as he got closer, she pictured Gray standing in front of her, inching closer to kiss her, instead of Sting.

She was about to push Sting away when she heard something moving behind the bushes to her right so she stepped back and looked at that direction. Lucy was the type to get scared of a ghost but this sounded familiar. Like a voice she heard somewhere...A very familiar voice..

Lucy turned to Sting. "Did you hear that?"

He shrugged and cupped her face again and leaned closer. "Probably some dogs-"

"No wait, I think it's somebody."

Before she knew what she was doing (here she went again doing things before thinking) she reached into the bushes and walked around the big tree, curiosity was overwhelming her. She reached at the back of the huge trunk...and she stopped dead in her tracks.

Oh god, he was kissing a girl. That girl. Out of the entire unsuspected thing why did this have to happen! His eyes landed on hers and he quickly stopped kissing her, his eyes widening and gaping at Lucy.

She couldn't take it anymore. She felt her eyes water and her vision became blurry.

Lucy turned and ran away ignoring him calling her.

Gray cursed as he saw Lucy ran away. He stepped away from Juvia and ran after Lucy. "Lucy! Stop!" He yelled as he ran after her.

She just ran faster but she forgot she was wearing heels and was running in the snow. She slipped and waited to feel her back meet with the ground but the impact never came. Instead she felt a pair of strong arms holding her firmly around her waist.

She turned around and saw Gray's dark blue eyes staring down at her.

Lucy stepped away from Gray and let out a quiet 'thank you'. Gray sighed and shook his head. "You shouldn't be running in the snow and less when you're wearing heels." Lucy glared at him. "I don't need to hear that from you."

She shook her head again to clear away the kiss she had just seen. Nope, no good. It kept coming and rushing back to her. Oh the horror. It felt like someone had just stabbed her in the heart. Warm tears fell on her cheeks and Gray pulled her against his chest, warming her up with his strong arms around her. She wanted to punch him and yell at him but the words just didn't come.

"Look I know you're mad but if you let me explain-" Lucy pushed him away and shook her head. "You don't need to explain anything to me. I already saw enough." She started to walk away but Gray pulled her back towards him.

"I was following you an she decided to come along. She said something about being happy that her love rival had gotten a boyfriend, or something stupid like that. She was making a lot of noice and I stopped her with a kiss. I know, it was stupid, but it was the only way. I didn't want you to know that I was following you." Lucy glared at him.

"Why were you even following me?!' She exclaimed, lifting her shoulders in question.

Gray looked away and sighed. "I saw you leave your apartment with Sting and I guessed you two were going on a date and I got a bit jealous..."

"You've been following us the whole time?" Lucy asked, clearly shocked. Gray nodded and Lucy glared at him. She laughed and shook her head. "Unbelievable . Why would you even be jealous?!"

"Well because you were hanging out with another guy." Gray answered like if it was obvious.

Oh, this was killing her.

"This is too much to handle." She muttered as she looked away.

She was about to yell at him for following her when she caught Sting watching her with a smile, leaning against a tree. He waved at her slowy before causually leaning again on the tree. Oh, he was waiting for her. He was way too sweet.

Oh screw Gray! She had a wonderful time until he ruined the night, her night. She was supposed to hang out and have a lovely dinner, she was even about to get kissed by a nice and wonderful guy but noooo, he just had to ruin her night.

"You know what, forget it, Sting's waiting for me."

Now he realized that Sting was across the street. Gray gaped at him, giving him a glare before he snapped at her with a tone she didn't appreciate. "Now that's not fair! Don't I get to be angry at you for going out on a date with him?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Why is it about me now? I'm the one that saw you kissing Juvia, if you knew about my date with Sting you should of just asked me about it when you found out about it, not come and spy on my date and bring it up when you get caught kissing another girl!"

Surprised at how right her outburst was Gray took a step forward and glared at her. "You know what, you're right. It's none of my business if you plan on going on a date with another guy. Do whatever you want, its got nothing to do with me anyways. I'm just the guy that had sex with you a couple of times, thats it. I shouldn't care if you plan on dating some other guy. We're just friends with benifits, only sex."

She bawled her hand into a fist as she gasped at his stupid, harsh words. His face suddenly went softer as he looked at her apologetically, it seemed like he just understood what he had said to her.

Lucy took a step back and glared at him. "Y-you're right." She was kind of on the bridge of tears, so she quickly looked away, not wanting him to see her like this.

Gray sighed after a moment of awkward silence. "Lucy, I'm sorry I-"

"No, forget it." She turned around and made her way towards Sting, walking away with him and ignoring Gray behind.

After a long silence of walking, Lucy calmed herself and wiped away the small tears on her cheeks, she finally turned to look at Sting. She was glad Sting had stayed quiet the whole time and hadn't asked anything, leaving her alone to calm her sadness and anger. "I'm sorry you saw that."

He smiled at her. "It's fine, I'm sorry everything happened."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." She watched as they passed by many bluildings in the dark cold windy night. It was weird having a fight like that with Gray; she knew that he would always speak before thinking when he gets mad; a bad habit of his. But she didn't know she would feel this miserable when she got the bomb.

"It's better if you get some rest now." Sting told her as they approached her apartment. Lucy nodded slightly, looking up at him. He smiled and patted her head making her blush and look away.

"I hope you and Gray finish this quickly...To tell you the truth, I think that guy is stupid. I never thought you would fall for a guy like him..."

Lucy's eyes widened. "Wha-"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't act too surprissed, I quite heard what you and Gray were talking about."

She couldn't believe this. First, he was so charming to take her out on a beautiful date. Second, he wanted her back and confessed his feelings. Third, he got interrupted and waited for her to end her problem with Gray (which wasn't over yet, insert sigh here) and last he heard everything. God he knew, he liked her and he knew about Gray...

Lucy smiled at Sting. He really had changed. But he was just too late, her feelings for him were not like they had been before when they dated...Plus, she found herself falling for another guy at the moment...a guy she knew she shouldn't like...at all. Sting was too late, if only he would of acted like this when they dated. "Sting, I'm so sorry about everything."

He looked at her seriously and she touched his cheek; he rested his head on her palm. "I'm sorry too. I wish I hadn't been so late, that I would of changed before I lost you."

She sighed and grabbed his collar, giving him a peck on his cheek and pulled away, receiving a sad smile from him. She smiled again and stepped away from him. She walked over to her door and turned around, waiting for him to go.

"Thanks for spending the night with me." Lucy smiled. "Thanks for inviting me." He grinned and she waved him goodbye.

He gave her one last glance and smiled at her sweetly. "Bye Lucy." And with that he walked away.

She finally turned around and opened her apartment door. She rubbed her eyes and walked over to her wardrobe, picking out a pink shirt and some blue sweat pants. She went straight to her bathroom, she glanced at her reflection and groaned quietly, washing her face and changing into the outfit she had picked out and pulling her hair into a high pony tail. She folded her dress and walked out of her bathroom, placing her dress in her desk.

She plopped down on her bed and stared at her ceiling. She grabbed her pillow and placed it on her face, grunting on it. She was so mad at Gray, yet she felt her heart speed up when she remembered he had claimed of being jealous of Sting. She turned to look at her night stand and her eyes landed on the rose Gray had given her. She sat up straight, dropping her pillow, and graving the rose. She smiled as she moved it up to her nose and smelt it. Her eyes closed and she heard the words Gray had said play in her mind. Her eyes snapped opened and hot tears rolled down her cheeks, falling on the rose.

She laid back in her bed, dropping the rose next to her. She folded her arms and covered her face, sobbing quietly in her dark room. Her eyes caught the flower that laid next to her and she cursed. He could be so annoying sometimes but so lovable at times.

Wait, lovable? As in...Love?

Her eyes went wide and she sat up straight, her heartbeats going so fast she thought her heart would jump out of her chest. Her cheeks turned a deep red when she heard the door of her apartment opening. She turned around and found the reason to her blushing.

Gray.

"Hey, we need to talk."

Lucy blinked her eyes and sighed heavily. He closed the door behind him and walked carefully towards her, avoiding any eye contact. She wouldn't blame him, she was trying just as hard to not look his way. He grabbed the chair from her desk and sat in front of her, not to near though. Lucy glanced up and finally met his gaze silently.

He leaned on the chair he sat on and sighed. "I'm really sorry for what happened at the park. I don't even know why I did and said at the moment...Guess seeing you with Sting set me off."

She nodded and insisted him to continue. "Well, uh, the kiss with Juvia was just to make her quiet..no feelings or anything, I swear."

Lucy tried hard not to giggle at the face he made. She looked over at him as he stood up and walked around the room.

"I didn't mean to make you cry and I feel like a total jerk for making you cry." He looked over at her and bent down in front of her, moving her bangs away from her eyes. "Can you forgive me?"

Lucy sighed and looked away. "Its gonna take a lot more than just an 'I'm sorry.' And you know that..." Gray grumbled and stood up.

"A night filled with heavy and rough sex?" Lucy shot him a deathly glare and she smacked him with a pillow near her. "Of course not!"

"Ok then I'll take you on a date...Tomorrow night." Lucy eyed him and blushed when she understood what he had said.

Her eyes widened and a deep blush covered her cheeks. "Fine." Gray smirked and sat on her bed, looking over at her.

"I'll take you on a date a thousand times better than the one you had with Sting." Lucy raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Really? I've got to say, Sting and I had quite a nice evening. In fact it was great-"

"You don't have to tell me."

Lucy giggled and continued. "But we're just friends, nothing more."

She grinned at seeing him jealous. Gray might not admit that he was getting jealous, but she liked seeing him act like that. She laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She heard Gray move closer and turned to him. He was holding the rose he had given her and was smiling. "You really liked it, huh?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and looked away. "I guess, its the first time a guy has ever given me a rose...so yeah."

He laid beside her and she saw him smile up at the ceiling. "Thats good to hear."

Lucy scooted closer to him, laying her head on his chest. She liked the sound of his heartbeats. She slowly closed her eyes, feeling his arm wrap around her and bringing her closer to him.

She was now laying beside his strong body and close enough for her to smell his sweet masculine scent. She shivered.

Lucy looked up at him, only to find that he had already closed his eyes. She leaned closer to him, breathing along his wonderful scent that he had. If she moved any closer her lips would be touching his salty skin. She wanted to know how he would react.

Slowly but sure she leaned onto him and brushed her lips gently on his neck. She felt him stiffen under her when his arm tightened around her waist. She grinned and trailed closer, with her heart pounding hard, she tasted the skin and sucked on the spot. She was giving him a hickey, she thought giddily. She didn't know why she was being so brave.

Gray suddenly pulled away and looked at her meaningfully, like he was asking her a question. Lucy smiled at him slowly and without any warning he crashed his lips onto hers. It felt nice that his lips tasted like peppermint and the way he bit the bottom of her lip seductively, it made her feel as if she was flying in heaven. She could do this forever.

He pulled away, but not too far. He hugged her again, holding her close in his arms as she felt him kiss the top of her head lightly. She wanted to do something naughty to him but he didn't let her move a muscle. He just held her tighter and rocked her body gently.

Lucy sighed and moved closer to him. Arms and legs tangled and her face pressed against his chest, they stayed like that for the night.

* * *

**A/N:** Liked it? Hated it? Weren't expecting any of the events that happened? Please leave a review and let me know what you thought about the chapter! And to all Sting lovers, don't worry...He'll be back!

Thanks for reading!

~IceKeys121


	10. Chapter 10

**_More Than Friends, Less Than_** **_Lovers_**

**_Chapter 10~_**

The morning was rainy and dank outside. A thousand raindrops pounded and pattered the street outside her window as she glanced away from her manuscript, dropping her pen in the process. It wasn't that early, maybe around ten in the morning, but she still was in her morning garb, hair up on a messy bun. Clenched in her hand was a coffee mug with old coffee encrusted in the bowels of it, as if wishing it would be replenished somehow, but it never did.

He had been acting strange and she could sense it.

Since this morning he was acting so awkward around her and she didn't even know why. He had been avoiding eye contact with her when they sat in the kitchen table just the two of them. When she asked if he was okay he slowly nodded and strode away pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

It actually started when she woke up. She opened her eyes and found his arm around her waist. The blonde thought about what to do and decided if she should do it or not. Her eyes traveled his face and admired the perfect bone structure he had. She stared at him and thought how beautiful he slept, unlike her, she guessed. Her eyes stopped at his parted lips and she had the urge to wake him up. And she did.

Lucy pressed her lips warmly onto his and trailed his wonderful lips with her tongue. It felt so nice just kissing him like that. At first she felt him waking up but then his hand cupped her face and he kissed her back..She said at first. Secondly he pushed her away and looked surprised while he stared at her. She gave him a confused look but he got out of bed and mumbled he would get the breakfast table ready.

The blonde stared at him with a confused look all throughout breakfast. She had no idea of what was up with him. At times like these she just wished she could read other peoples minds. Soon after they finished their breakfast and cleaned the kitchen, Gray walked up to her and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. Her heart had stopped at that moment and every thought she had seemed gone those few seconds. He left after that and now Lucy sat alone in her desk.

She looked out her window one last time and sighed, picking up her pen to try and write something but all thoughts on her story were gone. She dropped her pen and stood up. The walk to her bed felt endless as she dropped dead on her fluffy pink bed. She covered her face with her white pillow and sighed. One thought ran through her head as she closed her eyes. Was Gray really going to take her out on a date?

"So when where you two planning on telling me?" Lucy's heart stopped for a second when she heard a very familiar voice in her apartment. Slowly she took off the pillow from her face and let it drop onto her lap. Her eyes were wide when she saw Loke standing in front of with arms crossed.

Loke looked at her seriously. "Why did you hide it away from me?"

Lucy looked away from him. "W-what are y-you ta-talking about?"

Loke sighed. "Your relationship with Gray."

Her eyes grew wider and she bit her lip nervously. "How did you find out?" It was a soft whisper but Loke caught it.

"I've had my suspicion for a while. But I concluded it this morning when I saw Gray walk out of your apartment. I also kind of heard what happened yesterday at the park...Guess Sting wasn't the only one that heard, huh?"

Lucy dropped her face in her hands and grunted. She soon found herself revealing everything to Loke, who seemed to know most of the story.

"And now I find myself falling for him.." She concluded, looking away from Loke.

"You like Gray?"

She shrugged and gave him a weak laugh. "Well I don't know, maybe."

Loke sighed and nodded. "Go on."

"Well thats about it. After the date with Sting he came over and said sorry and we just slept together...Only sleep...This morning he was kind of acting weird and I have no idea why."

Loke's eyes widened and it seemed like he was so stunned his eyes could fall out any minuet now. "You and Gray slept like...fully asleep in the same bed without having sex?"

Lucy nodded and stared at him oddly, what the hell was the big deal? Wasn't that supposed to be a good thing?

"Holly shit, Lucy! He's in love with you! Thats why he was acting weird this morning!"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "He's not in lo-WHAT?!"

Suddenly she felt her heart beat speed up uncontrollably and her palms became sweatier. She watched Loke who was taken aback as she was and she felt dizzy, looking pale. What was wrong with her? There was no way Gray would fall in love with her, right? There was just no way...So why was she getting anxious just by the thought of it? Lucy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Gray is not in love with me."

Even her voice didn't sound so confident.

"Oh god. This is big shit..." Lucy heard Loke murmur.

"This isn't even shit! Why are you making this a big deal? We didn't have sex because he was...uh...tired! Yeah, he was tired from following me all day!" She winced at how ridiculous she sounded.

Loke thought the same, unfortunately. He gave her a look. "Lucy, their is no way he was tired from just that... I don't think he would of let the chance pass by when he was so close to you, in your bed...He definitely would of had sex with you...wait.. did he..." Loke made a face."...hug you to sleep?"

She didn't even know why she was having this conversation with Loke but she still found herself shrugging nonchalantly. Of course, whatever she did made Loke wild again. "No fucking way!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Look, it isn't a big deal. Stop acting like a women and get out of my apartment."

"But he's in love with you, I just know it. I can even feel it 'cause he's my best friend and I am never wrong about him." Loke crossed his arms and Lucy grunted in frustration.

She got up and pushed him away leading him to the door. "Think about it, ask him if you want."

Ask him? No way! "No, and don't say anything to him. Please."

Loke went silent for a while before he nodded slowly. "Okay. But you might want to know that whatever comes between the two of you, you have my blessing." He then snickered and easily walked away.

Lucy watched his back as he walked away. "I'm not even going to think about it!"

* * *

The rain and howling wind hammered against the windows of Gray's apartment as he looked down with amusement at the women in his arms. "You know," he said "you can wriggle and squirm all you want, but I'm not letting go." A casually dressed Lucy looked up at him with thinly veiled annoyance. "I'm not squirming, I'm simply adjusting my position so as to be more comfortable." Lucy mumbled, looking away from Gray. It had only been a couple of hours since she had talked with Loke and now she found herself at Gray's apartment, without being able to forget everything Loke had tolled her.

Gray gazed at her with a smile of pure affection, he leaned down to rub his nose against hers. "Yes you are. You know it, I know it. Heck, even the couch knows it." Now she was really annoyed. "Gray, the sofa is not a sentient being. It is simply not possible for it to gauge the level of my squirming. Which, for the record, I am not." Huffing now, she shifted so she was faced away from the window, her head still laying in Gray's lap, facing the back of the couch.

Stifling a chuckle, he ran his left hand along her spine, eventually reaching the small of her back, where he drew lazy circles. With his right hand, he leant over and hooked her silky hair behind her ear and whispered, "You're bored, aren't you? You need to be reading or doing something. But this is something...We're snuggling."

Her sudden flip back to face him startled him for a moment. "I thought you said you would take me on a date a thousand times better then the one I had with Sting...This is thousand times better?" Gray huffed and looked away. "You're the one that didn't want to go out in the rain...And snuggling with me should be a thousand times better." He grinned and pulled her tighter and quickly brushed his lips over hers. Lucy tried to hide away her smile as se turned around to stare at Gray's window that was hammered by rain.

Gray saw this and gathered her up in his arms and onto his lap, he nuzzled her neck and groaned with sheer pleasure of this simple action. Lucy slowly looked up to meet his deep blue eyes. "I-I need to tell you something..." Gray stopped what he was doing and his eyes furrowed together. "What is it?"

"Well, Loke...he kind of...he knows about...well, uh, us." Lucy looked up to look at Gray, expecting him to look shocked...but he didn't. He frowned. "You didn't know that he knew about us?"

Lucy stayed quiet for a minuet, completely confused...She glared at him and hit him hard. Ugh! He was really getting on her nerves at the moment. "You knew and you didn't tell me!" She hit him again and again and again...

He grabbed her wrists but it didn't stop her from fidgeting...so his hold became a lot tighter. "You have got to stop hitting me."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

He pulled her closer to him. "Relax, jeez women."

"Gray, don't make me hit you again."

He rolled his eyes. "Listen, I didn't tell you until now because technically I knew that he knew not long ago."

Lucy looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean?"

He sighed and deciding she wouldn't hit him again, he let go of her wrist. "A few days ago he came over to my apartment and asked whether you and I had a 'thing' going on...to be honest, I was shocked that he asked a question like that out of nowhere. I stayed quiet and didn't answer him nor did I deny it. The funny thing was he laughed afterwards and then he just left. I wanted to go after him but I was still too shocked to even try and move."

Lucy shifted on his lap and watched him as he explained everything. She sighed and looked away. "You don't care that he knows?"

She felt a thumb on her cheek and looked up to meet his eyes. She felt him wrap his arms around her and she sighed in pleasure at the warm feeling he was radiating. It felt too good. It felt too nice and more importantly it felt just right. "I really don't care..So why don't we get back to snuggling." Lucy smiled, trailing butterfly kisses up his neck, she whispered suggestively, "There are so many other things we could be doing." Reaching the corner of his mouth, she nipped at his lips, causing him to shut his eyes against the entirely electric tingle that started there and raced straight to an entirely different area, far further south. The butterfly kisses meandered to his ear and she gently sucked his ear lobe, whilst he clenched his jaw and tried to remain resolute. "So many things we could be doing," She sighed wistfully.

Drawing her face to his, he kissed her thoroughly and could sense she was thrilling at the thought of getting her own way. With all the willpower in the world, he slowly kissed her lips once more, pulled back and grinned at her flushed cheeks and heavy-lidded eyes. "Nice try, but we're snuggling." Tilting her head to one side, she unleashed a smile of dazzling beauty and suggestively waggled her eyebrow. "We could snuggle after..."

The laughter bubbled from his lips before he could quell it. "Did you just Charm Smile me? You did. You totally did. The beautifully talented, clever, wonderful Celestial Spirit Mage just charmed smiled me."

Grinning again, she asked cheekily. "Did it work?"

"Nope." He said as he continued to laugh.

"Not even a little bit?"

"Not even a bit." He confirmed. "You got that from me, didn't you?"

"Yes, but apparently, it is not effective as yours and I have to study the use of consequences further." She muttered sulkily, mock-pouting a little.

Folding his arms, he cockily leaned back and stated, "Can't charm the Master, Luce. Can't charm the Master."

"Now," he said, rubbing his hands together, with a beaming charm smile of his own. "It's snuggle time."

Powerless to resist, she laid down once more with her head in his lap muttering bitterly, "How do you do that?Its really not fair." Grinning from ear to ear, Gray leaned back against the couch and couldn't remember when he had been more content. Him and Lucy bickering on his couch, all cuddled up on a rainy afternoon. It's what he'd always dreamed of. Sure, he'd had the odd fantasy of him being her prince charming saving her from a white dragon, that seemed weirdly familiar to Sting...Ok, the odd hundred or so fantasies. Maybe thousands...Who was keeping count anyway? But, this was what he had really been looking forward to for so long and this was what he was going to make sure he got...A day with Lucy...Just the two of them snuggling...Trying to not make everything just about the sex, though he did kind of miss it...They hadn't done anything in a while...Damn! There he goes picturing a naked Lucy...God, he really needed to get a grip on himself.

Kissing the tip of her nose now, he said. "Now, lets snuggle."

"Could I at least read a book?"

"No."

"Can I work on my book?"

"Nope."

"Can I bring out Plue and play around with him?"

"Most definitely not."

"Snuggle is a stupid word."

"Yes it is. It doesn't make it no fun though."

Lucy blushed and looked away, pouting at not being able to do what she wanted. It was weird that Gray just wanted to 'snuggle' with her...Since when had he acted like this around her? He was starting to act differently ever since the other night...Why was this? Her heart beats quickened when she remembered what Loke had said...Really, did he actually have feelings for her? Was he really feeling the L word towards her? Lucy's brain was about to pop out because of the stupid questions running through her head.

She felt him swap hands all of a sudden, his right was tangled in her hair and the left was creeping just under her white t-shirt.

She moaned in approval and he felt fire run through him. This woman would be the death of him. But my god, he'd die happy. He concentrated on stroking her hair, tickling gently around the nape of her neck and she moaned again. In all honesty, she was beginning to see the benefits of all Gray had suggested to her and was feeling pretty mellow. Snuggling was actually pretty nice. Unfortunately, she could never tell him that and prove him right, she was too proud. Although, she mused, she probably would. As his fingers traced a particularly sensitive spot behind her ear, she moaned again with pleasure and stretched like a cat. Yes, this was good. Very good. Amazing, in fact.

Her sudden stretch left his fingers splayed across a great deal more of her newly exposed and beautifully flat belly. Her skin was utterly smooth and yet hot as fire.

Concentrating his ministrations on this particular spot for now, he stroked gently back and forwards, occasionally deliberately catching his fingers under the waistband of her dark blue shorts. Each time he did this, she reworded him with a deeper moan and he changed the direction of his hand, so he was stroking upwards, but not quite reaching her breasts. He rolled his head back against the couch and shut his eyes. This was heaven. Pure heaven. Who snuggled anyway? No-one. He couldn't even remember why he wanted to in the first place. This was so much better.

Lost in his own thoughts, he hadn't been fully aware of her changing position. Opening his eyes, he found her straddling him with a gleam in her eyes. He knew that gleam all to well by now and grinned wolfishly at her.

"Gray, I swear, if you don't kiss me now, I am going to explode."

"I plan on doing a whole lot more besides kissing." He murmured as he captured her lips with his own and kissed her passionately. It was always like this. The fire between them needed a little spark and soon their tongues were entangled and his hands were roaming freely over her body. She couldn't get enough of him and pressed herself hard against his torso. This was no good though. This wasn't close enough. She ripped his t-shirt from his body and pulled hers off. God, he loved stretchy white t-shirts and shorts. So easy to remove.

He stared at her as she trailed kisses down his neck, sucking and kissing as she went. He'd never get tired of looking at her, clothed or not. Her lips crushed against his and he couldn't help but grin against her mouth, pushing aside the thought that this wasn't something he had planned to do with her today but he couldn't stop now, and concentrated on kissing her hard. This was going to be great. It always was.

He switched their positions, he was now on top of her, kissing her until her head spun and she couldn't breath but she ignored the burning of her lungs and kissed him back with matching fervor. Her hands slipped up to his shoulders to tangle in his hair, pulling him in even closer. He kissed her harder in response, slanting his mouth of hers. One of his hands drifted down the side of her body and her back instinctively arched when his thumb brushed against the outside swell of her breast. Her nipple tightened from his touch and her legs naturally parted, his hips cradled between them. She gasped as he pressed himself down against her and she could feel his growing erection through his pants.

"Gray," she whispered, panting.

He reluctantly pulled his lips from hers and he looked down at her. Her face was flushed, her lips were swollen and her chest was rising and falling rapidly as her chest pounded. He wanted to continue kissing Lucy, just being with her was enough for him. She was so warm and soft and her entire presence surrounded him like a fog, making him never want to move. She was receptive to his touch and to his kisses and he wanted to explore her again, his fingers itching to explore her body that would make her move beneath him and make her moan. She was beautiful.

Still, he had to ask. "Do you want me to stop?" He asked, staring into her eyes, silently praying that she didn't.

If she didn't want to continue, Gray decided they would just go back to cuddling...maybe after taking a very cold shower...It wouldn't be easy but he would do it. But if she didn't want to stop, Gray figured that he could be naked in under five seconds.

She starred up into his eyes. One of her hands rested on his chest and she could feel the rapid rate of his heart beneath her fingers. She was glad she wasn't the only one that was affected by their kisses.

Did she want to stop? She honestly didn't know. She could hardly think clearly at the moment and she felt kind of nervous...She hadn't done something like this with Gray since she realized she had feelings for him. She slowly looked up at him, wanting to smile when she remembered he had actually asked her if she wanted to continue...he had never done that before... However, her smile faded away when the words that seemed to repeat in all her nightmares played in her head.

'_Do whatever you want, its got nothing to do with me anyways. I'm just the guy that had sex with you a couple of times, thats it. I shouldn't care if you plan on dating some other guy. We're just friends with benefits, only sex.'_

Her eyes started to water and she looked away. She knew he had already apologized but that didn't mean she had forgotten what he had said. Was it always going to be just about sex? She didn't want it to be just about sex, not anymore.

"Yes." Gray's eyes widened when he saw Lucy's eyes get watery. She pushed him away before he could say anything and rushed to his bathroom, picking up her shirt and shorts as she walked away. She locked herself in the bathroom and took a deep breath. One glance in the mirror made her stop.. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were wet from the tears that seemed to roll down her face. She quickly cleaned her face and put her clothes back on.

"Lucy, are you okay?" Gray lightly knocked on the door, wishing she would open up soon. Lucy glanced in the mirror one more time before answering a quiet 'yes'.

Gray sighed and leaned his forehead on the door, his hands resting on the door as he closed his eyes. Why did he always make her cry? Why?! His hands slowly curled up into fists, pushing himself away from the door in the process. He cursed and walked away from the bathroom, heading to his couch. He slowly sat down, running a hand through his face. Letting out a shaky breath and laying down on the couch as he looked up at his ceiling. He was an idiot, he knew that much. He could just guess the reason for why Lucy was crying, she still hadn't forgotten what he had said..Why had he even said something like that?! He didn't mean anything he said..He did care if she planned on dating some other guy. He didn't want her to think of him like just the guy that had sex with her a couple of times...Because he didn't think of her like that. She meant so much to him, she was special...He still wasn't quite sure of his feelings for her, but he knew one thing, she wasn't some girl to him...She was THE girl that has been making him feel things he has never felt before..

He heard the door slowly open and his head jerked up to look over at Lucy, who slowly walked out the bathroom looking down. Gray stood up but before he could even take a step he heard Lucy's soft voice, making him stop. "I think I should head home now."

She wasn't looking his way, avoiding his gaze completely. "I'll walk you there." Gray took a step forward and Lucy shook her head. "You don't need to."

Gray kept walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her when he stood right in front of her. Lucy didn't push him away, nor did she respond to the hug. She stared blankly at him as he looked down at her. His hands cupped her face, making her look into his eyes. "I care about you, Lucy, a lot. I wont let you out there alone." Her face softened and her cheeks turned a slight pinkish color at his words. She looked away from his eyes and tried to step away but Gray stopped her.

"Why were you crying?" Lucy's eyes widened. "I-I wasn't crying I-" Gray placed his forehead on hers, making her brain freeze and all her thoughts stop. "Don't lie to me." Lucy bit her lip and looked up at him. "Because I-I thought of something..."

Gray sighed and stepped away. "I'm sorry. I said horrible things to you the other day...You didn't deserve to hear that.." He stepped closer to her, cupping her face again. "You're special to me, Lucy. I care when some guy invites you out on dates...I get jealous when I see other guys getting close to you because I'm worried for your safety...you're someone I care a lot for...All those words were just my jealous damn impulse talking.. I was mad when I saw you with Sting and I let my anger out on you...I'm an idiot and if you want to slap me for what I did, feel free to do it."

Lucy looked up at Gray with wide eyes, red cheeks, and slightly watery eyes. She actually did consider the slap, he deserved it...But as she raised her hand and saw Gray close his eyes, waiting to feel the impact, she dropped her arm. Slapping him wouldn't make anything better.

After a few seconds of waiting for her to slap him, Gray snapped an eye open, looking at Lucy questionably...Wasn't she going to slap him?

Lucy sighed and turned around. Walking over to his window to check the weather,she turned around and picked up her coat. "Its still raining, should we start heading out?" Gray came back to his senses as he heard her speak. He nodded and smiled as he walked behind her towards the door.

Lucy stopped right in front of the door and slightly turned around to glance at him. "Gray,"

"Yes?" He asked, wondering what she wanted to tell him.

"I really don't hate the whole snuggling thing."

And with that, she finally grinned, turned, and stepped out of the apartment, humming as she walked away.

He stood looking blankly at the door, blinking a few times, stunned for a moment, then an ear - splitting grin graced his face as he triumphantly shouted "I knew it!" to the ceiling and chased after her, shrugging on his own coat as he went.

* * *

It was a few days after that Lucy found herself sitting in a table at the guild. In this loud guild she felt like she wasn't really alive. She looked gloomy and miserable compared to everyone else. People were laughing and chattering while she was stuck in a table with Levy and Gajeel ogling at each other when she was thinking about a certain guy. Gray wasn't at the guild, he left on a mission with Natsu... Strange but they seemed to be requested for a lot of missions together lately..

Lucy sighed and laid her head down on the table. Gray's apology had her mind going crazy.. For some reason she had hope that maybe, just maybe he could probably feel the same way for her as she did for him. But she knew there was no way Gray could possibly like her.. He just saw her like a friend...

Lucy groaned and sat up straight, she wasn't going to ruin her day by thinking about it. She should just burn all her feelings for him away.. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.. She just needed to forget about him..

She dropped her head on the table again, groaning. There was no way she could just forget about her feelings for Gray.

The blonde felt someone grab her hand and pull her out the guild. She realized who it was once they stood outside the guild. Levy looked worried as she looked up at her best friend.

"What's wrong?" Levy caught her hand and looked at her with concern. Lucy shook her head and turned away, only to see Loke walking towards her. He was grinning from ear to ear as he stared over at Lucy.

"What did I tell you?" He asked oh so confidently.

Lucy glared at him. "What are you doing here?! And why do you keep bugging me about that?!"

Levy looked at them curiously. "What's going on?"

"I told her that Gray loves her but she won't believe me so I told her to ask him herself."

Levy turned to the blonde and stared at Lucy carefully. "Well, did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Ask him."

The blonde looked at her short friend weirdly, giving her a look of 'What the hell were you thinking?'. "Of course not! That would probably happen when the world ends."

Levy laughed and shook her head. She looked at Lucy and smiled. "You know, you're too enchanted on thinking if he loves you or not."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The big question is, do you love him?"

Oh god, Lucy didn't want to answer that.

No wait, did she really have to answer _that_?


	11. Chapter 11

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 11~_**

Mira watched as Gray walked into the guild, already half naked and acting surprised when Cana pointed out that he was missing his pants. She watched as he ran around the guild, searching for his missing pants and once he found them walked straight towards the counter. The barmaid couldn't help but turn around and act as if she had been cleaning the dishes the whole time.

He sat down close to where she stood at and she heard him talking to Lisanna. It was rare to see those two talking but now as she heard her younger sister and Gray talk she couldn't help but ears drop.

"How do you know if you like someone?" Gray's words repeated in Mira's mind as she processed what he had said. She stopped what she had been doing, setting down the dishes and waiting to hear Lisanna's answer.

"I guess you know you like someone when you can't stop thinking about them. You want to see them everyday, you even dream about this person. You want to see them smile all the time and you know they're someone special to you." Lisanna's cheeks turned a slight pinkish color as she looked away from Gray and stared at a certain pink haired dragon slayer as she answered Gray's question.

Gray of course didn't notice this, he was too busy thinking over Lisanna's words. Mira sighed and decided she would deal with her sister's love life after helping Gray. The poor boy needed A LOT of help.

Mira leaned over the counter looking over at Gray with a mischievous smile. "Could this question have anything to do with a certain blonde?" She asked, an innocent expression on her face but by looking at the way she was smiling Gray knew her question was anything but innocent. She definitely knew something.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gray answered bluntly, looking away right after the words came out of his mouh.

"Oh don't act like you don't know." She leaned closer to him and gently whispered, "I heard you and Lucy had sex."

Gray turned towards her quickly. Wide eyes looked over at Mira as a dark shade of red covered his cheeks. "Who told you?!" He exclaimed.

Lisanna arched an eyebrow as she looked from Gray to Mira. She wasn't able to hear what Mira had whispered to Gray and was a bit curious to know but she had been pulled away from the counter by Cana and didn't get a chance to ask.

Mira giggled and shrugged. "It was a guess. However, you just cleared my doubt." Gray bit his bottom lip and looked away, mad at his sudden outburst.

"So she talked about it to someone?" He asked. His gaze was set at the middle of the guild where a blonde girl sat at eating ice cream with her short, blue haired best friend.

"Not really..She just mentioned parts of what happened. She never told me who it was with. I just guessed it was you and she kind of fell for it, just like you, and ended up admitting that it was you. She didn't tell me everything, though." Mira followed Gray's gaze and smiled before looking back at him. "Why don't you two date?"

"She's like a little sister to me really." It was his number one excuse from the moment he started getting closer to her. He knew it was a stupid excuse and a complete lie as well. It had always been. It had all started one night when he was in her apartment late at night, he had been bored and decided to stop at her apartment. He was sitting in a chair watching her paint her toe nails light pink. Her hair was down and wild as she held a pen in her mouth and a book beside her. She was wearing glasses as she read over a book and skipped over several pages and wrote some notes down on her notebook as she found something interesting.

Something about her that night made him feel different about her, made him see her differently. Gray was hit with the sudden realization that he was in her room alone and suddenly he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. He had tried anything and everything to stop the sudden shift but before he knew it, he was looking at the roundness of her large chest, the way her lips looked so soft and how with just one move he could be on that pink bed of hers with her. Her small frame under his, the sound of his name rolling off her lips. He got up claiming he needed to get some air from the fumes of nail polish and got out of there as quickly as he could.

Ever since then he can't help but smile when she appears or laughs when she gets so nervous that she starts to bit her bottom lip. He started picking up on the way she got that goofy grin whenever she read a love story or how she'd bubble herself up in the weirdest places and read her books. Gray was hit badly by cupid and there was nothing he could do about it. Only that he's stubborn mind didn't want to accept the fact.

"Well last I checked you don't sleep with your little sister," Mira said pulling Gray back into the present.

"We were drunk."

"Really? Well you two must be drinking quite a lot then. Since I'm more than sure that it didn't just happen once, am I correct?" She grinned as she saw him roll his eyes.

"How much did she tell you?" It was a soft whisper but Mira caught it. Smiling she stood up straight and hummed lightly. "Let's just say that I know enough...Enough to know that she's just as confused as you about her feelings."

Gray raised an eyebrow. Lucy was confused... about her feelings..for him? "Does she like me?" He voiced out his thoughts as he started blankly down at the counter.

Mira smiled and sighed. "Ara, Ara. Wouldn't you love to know the answer to that." Gray looked up to her with a questionable look. "Sadly, I don't have an answer to that." She kept smiling as she cleaned the counter. She glanced at Gray as she cleaned and sighed when she saw him stare off into space.

"If you're so worried about it, why don't you just ask her?" Gray looked over at Mira as if she was crazy.

"How am I supposed to ask her that?!" He exclaimed. Mira sighed loudly and shook her head. "You really are clueless. You don't really have to ask her..just try and notice the way she acts around you. I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own."

Gray let out a long sigh and looked away. His gaze slowly traveling to were Lucy sat with Levy. "I doubt it.." His eyes caught hers and a dark shade of red spread over her cheeks as their eyes locked to each other.

Mira starred at them and held her breath as she waited for the dense boy to finally realize that the blonde had feelings for him. However, things didn't quite go as Mira expected.

Lucy quickly looked away from him, standing up and pulling Levy away with her. Gray turned around and rubbed the back of his neck. Looking over at Mira he gave her a goofy smile. "There's just no way she likes me." Mira sweat dropped at his denseness and her jaw nearly dropped at him coming up with that conclusion after what had happened. She banged her head on the counter and grunted. "You really are a lost case."

* * *

She sat in her bed, frowning as she brought a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. She was mad at him. She hated him. Why? Because he made her heart beat fast and her cheeks turn red every time his eyes would catch hers. But that didn't compare to the real reason she hated him. She hated him for making her fall in love with him. Yeah, that's right, Lucy Heartfilia was in love with Gray Fullbuster. Shocker to her but is it really? No way! The girl should of known this would of happened. She actually did.. But she tried to shove it in the back of her mind.

"Lu-chan! Let's go on a job together!" Levy ran inside Lucy's apartment wearing a huge grin as she held out a job request in her hands. Somehow it didn't sound like a bad idea. Going out on a job with Levy would take her mind off of things. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "What's the job?"

Levy smiled and took a seat in Lucy's bed. "We're catching some thieves." Lucy stood up and stretched before giving her an approving nod. She looked over at Levy as she held out her outfit. "So it's just the two of us, right?"

The blue haired bookworm giggled slightly. "Well..."

Fifteen minuets later an annoyed Lucy stomped around her room.

"Cheer up, Lu-chan! You know what they say, you can run but you can't hide."

Like she didn't know that.

Lucy scowled at her so-called best friend and pretended that she didn't hear what she said and just continued stomping around her room. You're probably wondering why Lucy is stomping around her room with an angry scowl on her face. Well let's just say that Levy hadn't planned on going on this job with just Lucy. Gajeel was also coming along and well, Gray.. Levy knew Lucy didn't want to see Gray now that she new she, well, loved him.. But it wasn't her fault that Gray had seen her pick out the job and ask if he could join them. It's not like she could of said no, right? Well maybe she could of but she didn't want to.

"Lucy, you're being such a drama queen right now and I don't like it one bit." Although Levy's voice was bubbly, Lucy could hear the annoyance in her voice.

She shook her head. "I know...and I hate it. This isn't me and all I want to do is curl up into a ball and sleep all this shit off."

"Yeah! Where's the Lucy I know? Where's the Lucy that would never let a guy be a problem in her life?"

"She changed, she is now in love and all she can think about are about the beautiful blue eyes of a certain raven haired boy that makes her heartbeats go like crazy."

Lucy heard her giggle. "I'm sure you can think about many other things, not just Gray."

The blonde stopped and gave her a look. "You're supposed to support me, you're the best friend here Levy-chan!"

She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Well whether you like it or not you're just going to have to deal with having to see him. Plus it's just a job. You've gone on a bunch with him before."

Lucy sighed, she was right. It's not like she could avoid him forever. And it wasn't like she wouldn't be able to go on a job because Gray would be around. Like Levy had said, she had been on plenty on jobs with Gray, this should be something normal.

"You're right, I should just probably go straight to the guild with my chin held up high because I am fine, I am more than fine, I'm terrific!"

The blonde threw her fist in the air and got out of her apartment, walking straight to the guild while Levy followed suit.

She was so nervous as they approached the guild and once she saw Gray and Gajeel stand outside the guild, waiting for them, her heart stopped. She took a deep breath and continued.

* * *

Lucy was definitely going to get back at Levy for this. The girl had gone way too far with this. She had decided to stop at a hotel after they finished the job and claimed that there was only enough money for two rooms. Levy decided she would take a room with Gajeel while Lucy and Gray would share the other room.

Lucy gulped and blushed as she looked around their hotel room. It was a nice place. Only problem was, there was only one bed! Now she knew this shouldn't be a problem with her and Gray but her heartbeats said otherwise. To her relief, the bed was massive. She settled her bags down, removed her shoes, and gave a stretch. She looked over at Gray and saw him plop down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Well, I'm getting a bath," she declared.

"Alright. I'll be taking a nap so take your time." Gray closed hi eyes and Lucy giggled softly as he curled up in the bed. "Don't mind if I do."

Lucy spent nearly half an hour soaking in the massive bathtub. It was nice taking a nice hot bath after a long mission of following thieves around town. As she looked around the bathroom she noticed a shower as well, which she decided to use to wash her hair.

The water was warm. Her shoulders hunched when the warm water hit her upper back. She closed her eyes and turned around, letting the water beat at her face. She ran a hand over her stiff shoulders and gently pressed on the muscle. The water grew warmer as the hot water started to get hotter.

"Do you mind if I join you?" A low voice asked behind her.

Lucy yelped and turned around. Gray was smiling at her, his deep blue eyes staring right into her brown ones. She could easily tell that he didn't have any clothes on and her blood rushed to her cheeks. A deep blush covered her face, going all the way down her neck. She was nervous and as he stepped closer to her she felt like she would fall. He took her arms and slowly wrapped them around his waist, she looked up at his with a questionable look and he only smirked. Her heartbeats were going like crazy as she rested her head on his cold chest. The warm water continued to hit her back, unknotting a knot that had developed in her lower back.

Gray kissed the top of her head before moving her wet hair back. "Are you okay, Lucy?" Gray asked, his arms wrapping around her back.

She nodded slowly. "I-I'm f-fine." She stuttered. "Just tired from the job, that's all." She mumbled removing her arms from around his waist.

Gray frowned at her. "Are you sure that's all?"

"O-of course!" Lucy looked away, finding it hard to look straight into Gray's eyes.

She was about to ask why he had suddenly decided to joint her but he pressed his lips firmly against hers, stopping her from saying anything. She pressed her body firmly against his, encouraging him to take a couple steps back. Gray took a step back, his back pressing against the white tile of the bathroom. Lucy's hands went through his hair as she opened her mouth to deepen the kiss.

"Lucy," Gray groaned, pulling away from her. "You're distracting me." He mumbled, his hands grabbing onto her wet breast.

She smiled and gently grabbed his bottom lip between her teeth. "Good." She mumbled removing her hands from his hair so they could play with something much lower. He groaned as she gently cupped him in her fingers.

"You're playing dirty," He murmured his eyes closed against the wall.

"Well then you might just have to clean me up." Lucy whispered in his ear before biting his earlobe. The words sounded a lot sexier in her head. She didn't even know how she found the confidence to even say something like that.

She didn't expect Gray to throw her against the tile wall. Lucy stared at Gray in shock as he hovered over her, his arms on either side of her. He leaned down, his lips over hers as he stared at her. Lucy's eyes were wide as her heart sputtered, awaiting anxiously for his first move.

"You have no idea what you've been doing to me, Lucy." Gray whispered huskily. She could smell the intoxicating scent of his breath. "The way the water trickles down your chest, the way your heart sputters every time my lips touch you." He licked her ear. Lucy's heart went into overdrive, she clutched against the wall feeling the familiar tingle in the pit of her stomach.

"Who's playing dirty now?" She asked, a small smile playing on her lips. Gray chuckled softly.

Gray moved his head down slow enough so she could register that he was going to kiss her. Lucy closed her eyes and accepted the kiss. He pressed his lips hard onto hers. They both opened their mouths, ready to deepen the kiss. Her hands wrapped around in his hair as be lifted her leg to his waist, she could feel him at her entrance. He rubbed against her.

Lucy broke away from the kiss and closed her eyes moaning loudly. He took advantage of this to kiss her neck, sucking an licking it as he entered her. Her back- pressed closely against the wall- started to rise as he fully entered inside of her. She gripped his shoulders lightly as he finished entering her with a final thrust. Her nails dug into his shoulders as he exited out of her, only to thrust into her quickly after.

He pulled her other leg to his waist so he was holding both her legs to him as he entered in and out of her. Gray trailed kissed down her neck to her right breast as he he quickened his speed.

Lucy gasped and moaned as her back continued to rub against the wall. She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensations that he was giving her. His lips started to suck on her left nipple as he pushed her harder against the wall. She rolled her eyes and started to gasp and moan, her grip tightening in his hair.

"Gray." She finally started to scream, aware that she was getting closer to her orgasm. "Gray! Oh god Gray!" she continued to scream.

He ran his tongue down the trail between her breasts, his hands never letting go of her legs, aware that she would probably fall if he even thought of letting go of her. He pulled away from her chest. She could feel his cold breath against her ear. Lucy moaned loudly, enjoying his cold body against her hot one.

The water from the now steaming hot shower splashed onto her, sending hot shocks through her body as Gray pounded in her with his cold one. Her grip tightened against Gray, as her moans turned into wordless screams.

"Lucy," Gray began to moan in her ear.

"Oh god Gray!" She screamed at him, hoping that would be enough to let him know she was close to her end.

He stopped thrusting in her as her body began to tremble, her back arching against the wall, her walls tightening around Gray. She could feel him follow after her, he leaned forward, careful not to lean his full weight onto her. Lucy continued to tremble as he let go one of her legs.

It hit the floor and then slipped. Gray chuckled as she pulled it back and set it firmly on the bottom of the bathtub. Gray looked at her before letting go of her other leg. It fell to the floor and stuck. She smiled I'm triumph, proud that she could stand. Gray slowly exited out of her, his hand holding himself against the wall.

He kissed her softly when he was out of her. Kissing the top of her head he looked down to meet her gaze.

"If you wait awhile," He began to tease, "I'll be ready for a second round in the bedroom.."

She giggled and blushed at the same time. The same blush Gray had always found to be cute.

Gajeel looked at the celling in horror. He had been peacefully sleeping, until he heard the strangest of sounds from Gray and Bunny girl's room. He hoped the loud moans and cries would die down soon but, unfortunately, that didn't happen. They only got louder.

He damned his stupid sensitive hearing and closed his eyes tightly, trying to fall asleep. Only, things got increasingly loud. He could hear Lucy's voice as she screamed Gray's name and he pulled Levy, who slept peacefully next to him, closer to him, covering her ears from hearing any of that. He didn't understand how she could sleep with all the noises going on next door.

He was never going on a job with Gray and Bunny girl ever again! There he was, trying to sleep and they were doing it next door! In a hotel that seemed to have paper thin walls! He was going to kill Gray and shame Bunny girl. He didn't care what they did together, he just didn't want to hear it ever, never, ever again.

As the night fell back into quiet, Gajeel believed the nightmare was over. He slowly drifted back to sleep, despite the emotional scaring he had just experienced. That was until he heard the pounding from the bed.

He heard a giggle, then a groan.

Inconsiderate assholes.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews and for all the favorites and follows! I'm very thanked for all the support! That's what keeps me motivated to keep writing this story so thank you so much!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please R&R! I would love to hear from all of you and know what you thought about the chapter!

Thanks for reading :)

~IceKeys121


	12. Chapter 12

**_ More Than_** **_Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 12~_**

"How about this one?" Rogue held up another job request. "This one is around Magnolia."

Sting sighed, slouching lower in his chair. He looked around the guild, trying to distract himself. He looked back at what Rogue was holding. "This one is around Magnolia as well? Can't we go somewhere else?"

Rogue sighed impatiently. "You told me to pick a job near Magnolia.. Stop changing your mind. Plus, you should really go see her.. Maybe clear things up with her... You've been sulking for days."

"I don't know who or what you're talking about." Sting stated as he turned away, missing the glare Rogue sent his way.

"He's talking about Lucy-san. You've been sad ever since she rejected you." Lector sat down on top of the table the two dragon slayers sat at and looked over at his best friend that now rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Fro thinks so too."

Sting sighed loudly and sat up, rubbing his hands over his face. "It's not too big of a deal... I'll get over her."

Rogue sighed and dropped the request on the table, shaking his head as he looked away from Sting. "You obviously still like her."

The light dragon slayer stayed silent and leaned back in his chair. "She doesn't like me anymore. She likes the ice mage."

"Sting-kun is better than that guy! You just have to prove to her that you're a million times better than the Fairy guy!" Lector stood up and grinned at Sting. The blond Mage chuckled and when Lector held out his fist he couldn't help but bump his fist to his, grinning in the process.

Sting looked over at Rogue who gave him a nod, which Sting knew exactly what it meant. The light dragon slayer stood up and grabbed the paper that laid in the middle of the table. "Let's go to Magnolia!"

* * *

It was raining. He couldn't sleep well when it rained. Actually, he could sleep just fine through any type of weather. He was simply telling himself he couldn't sleep when it rained so he wouldn't have to admit that he couldn't sleep for an entirely different reason.

Gray sighed heavily, rubbing his hands over his eyes before blinking up at the ceiling.

Ever since it dawned upon him that he had fallen for her, sleep was becoming a luxury. He had wanted to tell her several times during their job but he couldn't. Something was holding him back. In the back of his mind, he knew what it was but that was another thing he didn't want to admit to himself at the moment.

Maybe he was crazy. Or paranoid. Or completely panicked over something that would never happen. He didn't even know what to expect out of a relationship with her. He had never actually dated anyone... But just because of that it didn't mean it couldn't work..right?

Over the past few months, he had gotten to know her, had seen parts of her he was certain she had meant to keep private from not only him but from everyone.. He was closer to her now than he had ever imagined he would ever be. She had become someone special to him, he was sure of that. She wasn't just her teammate or friend. She wasn't anything like a little sister like she had been before. She was Lucy, the girl that made his heart beat faster whenever she smiled.

He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, the hardwood floor cool under his feet. He rested his elbows on his knees and looked at the clock on the nightstand table. It was almost two o'clock in the morning. It had been almost four hours since he'd seen her last.

He nearly groaned. He couldn't believe that he was counting the hours by thinking of her. What the hell was going on with him? What the hell was happening? This was Lucy Heartfilia he was thinking about and now officially pining for. Lucy!

He would have laughed at the absurdity of it all but he knew well enough to know that his feelings for her were nothing to laugh about.

They had gone out that night. They seemed to be spending most evenings together and were hanging out more than just having sex. He actually liked it more like that. Just being around her was enough. They hadn't done anything special but to him, everything they did together was beginning to become special to him.

He had gone over to her apartment and then they had walked to an ice cream place around town, where they shared a banana split. He had given her all three cherries and she had smiled so brightly at him, he nearly began to contemplate investing some money into cherries just so he could supply her with an endless amount since she seemed to like them so much.

He had walked her home afterwards and she had squeezed his hand before disappearing into her apartment.

It had all been so innocent- the smiles, the looks, the touches.. Gray nearly groaned at the innocence of it all.

He dropped his head in his hands. What was happening to him all of a sudden?

It had all started with just sex and now it seemed to be all about the innocent smiles and touches. He liked it but he definitely wasn't expecting for things to turn out they way they did.

He stood up and looked around his room. Maybe a walk around town would clear his mind... He stretched his arm above his head, scratching his stomach. He bent down and picked up the dark jeans he had worn that day and pulled them on, hopping to the closet as he struggled with getting his legs in. He took a long sleeve tee shirt and pulled it over his head, trying to put on his shoes at the same time.

Rain poured down the street. Gray walked on the sidewalk in the pouring rain, hiding under the hood of his navy blue jacket. He made his way around Magnolia, stopping at random places and trying to distract himself from thinking about a certain blonde. As he kept walking he found himself standing in front of her apartment. Just one glance at the building made him want to turn around and go back to his apartment. However, he saw the lights on her apartment on. He could see her standing by her window, watching the pouring rain.

Her brown eyes lowered to where he stood and blue eyes met with brown. Her eyes widened when she saw him and she slightly waved at him before rushing away from the window. Gray walked up to her door and was about to turn the nob when she opened the door.

"Hey," Gray greeted breathlessly, scratching a hand over his wet hair.

"Hi," she said with such a smile that made him, without thinking about it, bend down and peck her on the lips.

It didn't feel weird to do such a thing. It just felt as if he had come over late at night and he was greeting her like she had greeted him at the door.

Lucy looked at him when he pulled his back and suddenly, the small threshold felt shrunken and claustrophobic. They stared at one completely motionless and silent.

Okay. So maybe pecking her right then was more weird than he initially thought.

She lifted her fingertips to her lips, touching them lightly as if not believing that his lips had just been there. Gray slowly reached out and took her fingers, pushing the sweatshirt sleeve past her wrist and staring at nothing but her eyes, he slowly put her fingertips to his own lips. He wasn't sure why he did it. It was just something he wanted to so at that moment.

Lucy watched as he kissed her fingertips again and she took a hesitant step towards him. She opened her mouth to speak but he was certain of what she was going to say and he didn't want to hear. Taking her fingertips off his lips, he grasped her hand and yanked her towards him so fast and sudden, she let out a short squeak of surprise. It was quickly silence though when he planted his mouth over hers, kissing her.

Time stopped. Neither moved. They stood there in the small threshold between the two sets of doors, their lips connected, Gray gripping her hand so she wouldn't pull away. Lucy didn't even try though.

Feeling his lips move over hers, coaxing her to kiss him back, she slowly lifted her other hand to the back of his head, pushing them closer together. Gray, still holding her hand, wrapped his arm around her so her arm was bent back behind her and their fingers were intertwined. His other hand came to a rest on her hip.

As they kissed, their lips slowly moving together, tasting one another and feeling one another, Gray knew that they were both in trouble.

Neither could ever go back. Within the span of just a few short, yet eternal, minuets, they had bolted down a path that neither had ever thought they would go down, especially together.

"You taste like strawberries," Gray observed barely pulling his lips away to tell her.

She nodded her head, wrapping her arm around his neck. "It's my lip gloss," she panted, pressing her lips to his again. She didn't stop to think what was happening.

She smiled into the kiss, brining him closer to her. He was a wonderful kisser. He gave her the kind of kisses that made her knees weak and her heart beat fast in her chest, it felt as of it was trying to beat itself through her ribcage. No one had ever kissed her like Gray. These were the kisses all girls dreamed of receiving one day.

Gray took his hands and buried them in her hair, making her moan softly into his mouth. That was nearly his undoing. He was using all of the strength left in his body to not push her against the wall or the door or just throw her over his shoulder and carry her over to her room.

He probably would of done that before, however, now he seemed to like just kissing her than having sex with her. And she seemed to like that more as well.

He pulled away so suddenly, she almost fell into him from her lack of balance his kiss had given her. As if both doused with cold water, they tried to collect themselves.

Gray breathed in and out and Lucy straightened her sweatshirt and ran her fingers through her hair. They looked at one another and Gray was prepared for what certainly would be one of the most awkward moments in his life.

Lucy surprised him though with a soft smile. "I'm not going to stand here all night," she told him, walking inside her apartment. Gray grinned, following her.

Gray noticed some papers scattered around her desk and smiled when she hurried to clean them up. "Couldn't sleep?"

Lucy turned around and slightly shrugged. "Yeah.. I was having trouble falling asleep so I decided to do some writing.. Maybe it could help me get sleepy, but it was a total failure.. I still can't sleep."

Gray took a few steps towards her desk, watching her put them away. "Why can't you sleep?"

She smiled. "It was probably all of the ice cream I ate just a few hours ago."

"You wanted that huge banana split," he reminded her and she laughed.

"I just wanted to see if we could finish it," she argued.

"We? Oh, no, Luce. There was no we involved with that monstrosity. That was entirely all yours. I was afraid you'd bite my hand if I reached for my own spoonful," he teased and she laughed, a quiet laugh that soothed his entire being. He didn't know a laugh was capable of such a feat. They were quiet for a moment. "Do you want me to stay for the night?"

"Yes," she said without a moments pause. "Why were you roaming around the streets in this weather?" she asked, slightly turning around to look over at him, who sat in her couch, watching her clean her desk.

"Same reason as to why you were up at this time writing. I couldn't sleep." He grinned when he saw her smile and turn away.

Lucy walked over to her bed and crawled underneath the covers of her bed, pushing back the covers on the left side of the bed for him.

Gray stood up and stared at the bed.

"What?" She asked, wondering why he was looking at the bed as if he had never seen one before- something she highly doubted.

He shook his head slightly. "You sleep on the left side of the bed," he observed. "I sleep on the right," he said.

"Oh," she said, still a bit confused. "Well that works out well."

She reached over and turned off the lamp on the bedside table, blanketing the room in darkness.

The raindrops fell soothingly on the roof above them and the mattress squeaked quietly when Gray got into the bed, lying on his back, lacing his fingers behind his head. It had been such a surreal night. He had just found out he had feelings for Lucy and now here he was, laying in bed with her.

She was sleeping on her side, facing him, her eyes already closed and her breathing already evening out. He thought she was asleep so when she spoke, he was taken aback.

"I guess I just needed you here with me to fall asleep," she murmured softly before drifting off.

* * *

The short blue haired girl hummed as she walked through town with her boyfriend early in the morning. She was planning on going on a job soon, needing some money for some new books she planned to buy.

"How about we pick a job today?" Levy looked up to see Gajeel cross his arms. "Fine. Just don't even think about bringing Bunny girl or Gray."

Levy couldn't help but laugh. "You haven't gotten over that?" Gajeel huffed when he saw his girlfriend laugh at him.

"You just don't know how mentally disturbing it was. I think I'm going to still be having nightmares about it. We should get back at them."

Levy's cheeks turned red at the last few words that came out off Gajeel's mouth. She slapped a hand on his arm and glared at him. "No way!"

"I think it'd be fair. They made me go through the worst night of my life. And worst part of it all is that I could hear everything! All because of my stupid sensitive hearing." Levy sighed and shook her head.

"You're over reacting." Gajeel was about to say something else but stopped when he saw two very familiar dragon slayers walking in front of them. Levy bumped into his back and let out a loud squeak when her face met with his back.

"Why did you stop!?" Her yell got the attention of the twin dragon slayers who quickly turned around to see the short girl and the iron dragon slayer.

"Gajeel-san? Levy-san?" Sting walked over to them wearing a grin and waving at them. "It's nice to see you guys again."

Gajeel sighed and gave an approving nod while Levy smiled and waved back. "Hi. Are you guys here on a job?"

"Yeah. We just arrived to town." Rogue answered. Levy's eyes spotted Frosh and a grin spread over her face. Bending down she hugged the cat as they three dragon slayers stood staring at each other.

"It's rare to see you two around Magnolia." Gajeel commented, looking back and forth from Sting and Rogue. He noticed a shade of red form on Sting's cheeks as he shrugged and Rogue sighed.

"He wants to see Lucy." He blurted out and Stings eyes widened. "Rogue! Why are you telling him that?!"

Rogue rolled his eyes and looked away, not caring to answer Sting. "Lucy? You still like her?" Gajeel asked.

Sting looked over at Gajeel with wide eyes. "How do you know?" Sting exclaimed. Gajeel looked down to see his girlfriend hugging the frog dressed cat. Damn cat. "She told me." He answered, nodding at Levy.

Sting sighed loudly. "Whatever."

"You came to see Lucy?" Levy asked, letting go of Frosh and standing up to look at Sting.

"Yeah.."

Levy bit her lip slightly and Gajeel shook his head. "Do you know of her relationship with Gray?"

Sting raised an eyebrow. "Yes... That doesn't mean I can't still try, right?"

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Don't ask me. I'm not really good at giving advice. May I interest you in a sarcastic comment?"

Sting glared at him and Rogue couldn't help grin at Gajeel's words. Levy let out a breath she seemed to be holding in.

"You shouldn't get between them. Please stay out of it, Sting."

"Why?"

"You know why." Levy answered, giving him an apologetic smile. "Just stay out of it, Sting."

Sting stared at her for a moment before shaking his head slightly. "I can't do that, Levy-san."

* * *

**A/N:** Sting's back! And Rogue has joined the story as well! And finally! Gray has accepted his feelings! Haha I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. And thanks so much for all the awesome reviews! Please R&R! I love reading all your thoughts on the chapter!

Thanks for reading! :)

~ IceKeys121


	13. Chapter 13

**_ More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_ Chapter 13~_**

"Erza-san, what does being in love feel like?"

The scarlet haired mage looked up slowly at the young girl that sat in front of her. Erza's eyes widened as she finally understood what she had been asked. Her cheeks felt hot and she could hear incoherent words leave her mouth as she tried to say something.

"W-what?!" Cana couldn't help laugh as she watched Erza get nervous from Wendy's question. The brunet, who sat next to Erza, gave her a sneaky smile as she turned her attention to Wendy.

"A better question would be, why she wants to know." Erza slowly turned to Cana and raised an eyebrow. "So, why do you want to know?" Cana asked Wendy, who now shrugged slightly.

"I was just wondering..No real reason to it." Juvia, who sat next to Wendy, gave her a doubtful look.

"There must be something that brought the curiosity to Wendy-san. Could it be that Wendy-san likes someone?" Juvia asked.

The young girl's cheeks turned a slightly pink color as she quickly shook her head. "Of course not! I-I've just been seeing some people acting strange around each other and I was wondering if it was because they love each other."

"Some people?" Erza looked over at Wendy and the blue haired girl slightly looked over at Juvia as she shook her head. "Its not important who...I just want to know what love is, what does it feel like?"

"Well, lets just say that love is like heaven, but it can hurt like hell." Cana stated, drinking from her barrel. Erza's mouth nearly dropped at her definition and Juvia sighed.

"Does love hurt that much?" Wendy asked quietly, looking a bit terrified.

"Sometimes it can.." Juvia gave her a soft smile, knowing exactly what it felt like. "But its a beautiful feeling to experience."

Wendy smiled and Juvia continued, "Anyone can make Wendy-san happy by doing something special. But, only someone special can make Wendy-san happy without doing anything. That's Juvia's definition of love."

Wendy's smiled widened at Juvia's definition. "You girls talking about love?" Bisca walked over to their table, holding Asuka.

"Yeah.. I was asking what love felt like.." Wendy answered, shyly looking away. Bisca giggled at her cuteness and gave Asuka a glance before answering. "You feel love when you see that person and your heart just can't stop beating at a crazy speed. You just know their the one when you see that special spark in them, knowing you'll be forever with him." Asuka looked over at her mom and giggled when Bisca rubbed her nose on hers.

"Love is when a puppy licks your face!" Asuka exclaimed, looking at Wendy. The girls around her giggled but then she added, "Even after you left him alone all day."

"That's a great way of interpreting it, Asuka." Levy had just arrived at the guild and took seat next to Wendy after she patted Asuka's head.

"So..Is todays topic love?" Levy jokingly asked. Cana sighed loudly. "Apparently."

"What's love to you, Levy-san?" Levy turned to Wendy and smiled. "Love is a wildly misunderstood, although highly desirable, malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker." Levy stated with a grin.

"You obviously got that from a book." Cana flatly stated and Erza grinned. "We all know she did." Erza agreed.

"Whatever. She didn't say to give my own."

"So how can you make someone love you?" Wendy asked, looking around the table.

Cana arched an eyebrow. "You can't make someone love you. You can only stalk them and hope for the best. Right, Juvia?" Cana smirked as she saw Juvia cross her arms.

"Stalking is a very strong word, Juvia prefers intense research of an individual."

"Its the same thing.."

Juvia was about to say something else but a high pitch voice stopped her. "Juvia!" Lisanna ran to their table and pulled Juvia away as she yelled, "We need to talk! I need help with something."

Once Juvia and Lisanna were gone, Wendy turned to Levy. "So then Lucy-san is in love? And Lisanna-san as well?"

Levy smiled as she saw both Erza and Cana make a questionable face at the mentioning of Lucy. "What do you think?"

"Well its obvious that Lisanna-san has feelings for Natsu-san...Lucy also acts different around Gray..so I was wondering if she maybe liked him.."

"Gray?" Erza asked. "I always thought she would fall for Natsu...Damn..I lost that stupid bet to Mira.." Cana murmured.

Levy ignored them and looked at Wendy as she smiled. "Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't...But do you think she does?"

"Well from what everybody told me..I think she does...The way she looks and acts around him are different from how she acts around others..And she's always smiling when she's around him." Wendy looked down and smiled. "They make a cute couple." She whispered.

Levy giggled. "They do, huh?" She looked over at her boyfriend, who sat at the bar counter, and smiled. "Love is a beautiful feeling.. You'll soon find out for yourself."

Wendy nodded and looked over at what Levy was looking at and blushed when a certain boy came into view. Levy noticed this but stopped herself from saying anything, and less in front of Cana.

"I have one last advice for you." Cana started. Wendy looked over at her and Cana grinned. "Don't wait for Price Charming, because he's too lazy to leave his castle. Wait for your knight in shining armor who will fight for you."

Erza looked over at Cana with a funny look. "You got that from a book?"

Cana shook her head. "Nope. I got it from Mira."

They both stood up and walked over to the bar counter. Asuka followed them and Bisca rushed after the small girl. Levy watched them walk away and felt someone lightly tap her shoulder.

"So how can you tell that Gray and Lucy like each other?" Wendy asked her.

Levy smiled. "Its simple. When a girl is in love, you can see it in her smile. But when a guy is in love, you can see it in his eyes."

Wendy giggled. "If its like that, then they're in love."

"Exactly."

* * *

Lucy laid on her stomach, her hand resting on the empty spot next to her. It was cool to the touch. She wondered what time he had left. It must have been early. It was only nine in the morning and the right side of the bed already looked as if no one had slept there the night before.

She sighed softly, situating the pillow underneath her cheek to become more comfortable. She didn't feel like getting out of bed quite yet. She had things her mind had to see to. For instance, why had Gray stopped by her apartment at such a time last night? And in addition to that, what was going on with her and Gray in the first place?

She sighed softly, closing her eyes again.

She felt the rising sun outside slowly begin to warm the bedroom but felt a shiver go down her spine. She pulled her pink comforter up over her head. The darkness swallowed her and she welcomed it. She had woken up slowly, still almost dreaming and she had rolled over, intending to touch him.

Things were beyond the point of confusing. With Gray, whatever this thing was that they were sharing with one another, it intrigued her, infuriated her, mystified her...aroused her.

She shook her head slightly. Lying next to him in bed last night had been a bit more challenging then it had ever been before. Despite being completely exhausted, the moment he laid down next to her, the mattress sinking with his weight, the heat radiating off his body, Lucy became very much awake.

She had studied him as he slept. His dark messy hair that made her want to tangle her fingers in it, his face with the sharp features and bones that made him look hardened but it all melted away whenever he smiled, which seemed to be more and more often around her now, the hard lean muscles of his pale frame.

She starred at him, not thinking about how strange it was that Gray Fullbuster was sleeping in her bed, but thinking how oddly right it all felt to have him there.

Rolling onto her back, she pushed the covers from her face and stared up at the ceiling. Their kisses were phenomenal. But even she knew that was putting it lightly. Each time they kissed, which she knew was further complicating things between them, she couldn't help but want more and more. She literally had to cling to him as her knees shook and her legs became unreliable holding her up. His lips were addicting. He could kiss her with so much passion and yet, his caresses on her body and lips could be so gentle. Lucy nearly swooned just thinking about them.

None of it made any sense. It all confused her. Looking back on the past few months, it had all started with Mira's birthday party...And that one day turned into many and many and before she knew it, she and Gray were something. They were more than friends, yes. That was without argument. But there was something more there. Something that was more than just friends and friendship...teammates...

And it drove her crazy to let it exist without a label of some sort. She wasn't even sure whether or not she could discuss this with him. Perhaps she was seeing something that wasn't there.

Lucy shook her head slightly. Or perhaps these thoughts were too many to be having at such an early hour in the morning. She needed coffee. And then she could could proceed with over-analyzing everything. Maybe she could even make a list spanning their entire friendship or relationship or whatever this thing between them was called..because she knew very well it wasn't friends with benefits anymore...it had proceeded to more than just that.

Yes. That's what she would do. She had to make a list that failed its purpose.

Pleased that the morning wasn't turning out to be a complete disappointment, Lucy slid out of bed, immediately stretching, grunting slightly as the muscles in her body pulled. She tugged the sweatshirt off over her head and slid on a tank top. Her apartment was always a bit warm in the mornings with the windows facing east and the sun pouring directly into the room. She hopped happily into the kitchen, all but now forgetting that Gray had snuck out without waking her up, and opened the refrigerator, searching for the jug of lemonade she had made the other day.

"Lemon, lemon, lemonade," she sang to herself, practically diving into the refrigerator on the hunt. Her tongue felt swollen in her mouth from her thirst. And when one had a taste of her lemonade, nothing else would do.

"What the hell are you doing?" Gray asked, suddenly appearing behind her, catching her by surprise so much, that she nearly fell into the shelfs.

His arm snaked around her waist, catching her. She immediately elbowed him in the chest making him back away so she could turn around and face him.

"And where the hell have you been?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to ignore the fact that his hand was still resting on the dip of her hip.

That was something that she definitely had to add to her list. His touch, no matter how innocent or brief or even unintentional, always, without fail, sent the temperature in her body spiking upwards a few hundred degrees.

With a roll of his eyes, Gray turned slightly, his hand still on her body, and took a piece of paper from off the counter, holding it up for her to see. "I told you I was going for coffee and something to eat so I could bring it back here. You have absolutely nothing to eat."

"That's not true!" Lucy exclaimed, turning around again to face the still open refrigerator. "I have some bread..."

"Two slices," Gray interrupted. "We both can't be full off of two slices of bread."

Lucy sighed, elbowing him again. He laughed, finally stepping away from her but not without kissing her cheek affectionately. She felt her skin flame up in a blush but he didn't notice as he went to the counter, takin the cups he had brought from the coffee shop down the street.

"Here. One vanilla frappuccino," he said, holding the appropriate cup out to her. He then opened the paper bag he had also brought back with him. "And..." he pulled out two muffins, one blueberry and one chocolate chip muffin. She smiled, taking the chocolate chip muffin one just like he knew she would. "Do I deliver or what?" He asked with a grin and she laughed softly.

Walking past him, she patted his arm and pecked him quickly on the lips, not wasting the time to add her headache by analyzing that action, going into her bedroom and collapsing onto her couch.

"I woke up this morning and I thought you had left," Lucy admitted, her lips tingling.

She stared at her coffee table, munching on her muffin and trying not to watch Gray from the corner of her eye as she saw him still standing by the kitchen, taking off his shoes and stripping back down to his tee shirt and boxer shorts.

"I was trying to get back before you woke up," Gray said, collapsing down next to her with his own coffee and muffin.

He reached onto the coffee table and took a book that laid there, sinking back down in the cushions. Beginning to flip through that pages, which he caught himself reading bits of the book. He began to gulp down the coffee, not being bothered at all by it searing his throat as it went down.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked, turning his head to look at her.

She nodded. "Really good actually." She took a small bite from her muffin. "Don't flatter yourself though," she quickly added and he smirked, shaking his head.

Gray looked back at the book he was holding, stopping his flipping on an interesting page.

He had slept good the night before too. Real good in fact. He thought that maybe he wouldn't have with her being so close but as soon as he felt the warmth from her body, her soft breathings, he had instantly been ushered into his own slumber.

During the night, he had felt their bodies touch- nothing serious. Just their feet touched but he felt it in his sleep and it had found its way into his dreams.

He gulped the rest of his coffee then rolled the empty cup between his hands for a moment, not really reading the book that now laid forgotten on the coffee table, instead he was lost in thoughts of none other than Lucy Heartfilia. She was staring out the window as she ate her muffin, taking small bites, a few crumbs falling on her shorts. She was so imperfectly beautiful in the mornings. Her hair was a tussled mess, her clothes were rumpled, there was a pillow mark on her left shoulder and yet all of that made him smile.

It was her imperfections that reminded him that she was very much real.

He cleared his throat. He had had a thought in his head and he needed to get it out before it stayed in there and became a victim of over-analyzing. "Hey Luce?" He asked, his voice coming out a bit croaked in his opinion before he cleared it again.

"Hmmm?" She said, still looking out the window, now sipping her coffee.

He scratched nervously at the back of his head. "Do you want to go out to eat with me tonight?" He asked her rather quickly.

Lucy turned her head to look at him. "Where? At Fairy Tail?"

He wished he had more coffee to swallow. At least that would give him something to do. The muffin was making his mouth far too dry to finish. It now sat ignored on the coffee table. "Actually, there's this restaurant I really like going to around here...I was thinking about going again...What do you think?" He looked at her, hopeful.

It took a few passing moments for Lucy's eyes to light with understanding. "Oh," was all she said for a minute. She took a sip from her coffee. "Are you talking about a date?"

He nodded his head, trying to describe her tone. Was that disgust? Or approval at the suggestion? He thought he knew her tones but now he definitely wasn't sure. He awaited nervously for an answer. His heart nearly collapsed with relief when her mouth turned upwards into a faint smile.

"That sounds lovely," she smiled, her cheeks breaking into a light blush. "I can't wait."

Gray broke into a grin. "Me neither. I think getting dinner at some place quiet. where we could hear one another talk, would be the best. Unless you wanted to go somewhere else..."

"No," Lucy shook her head, still smiling faintly. "I think that that sounds perfect."

"Yeah?" Gray asked.

Now that she had agreed to an official date with him, he wasn't sure why he was now more nervous than when he had initially asked her. She nodded her head again, smiling a bit wider, and he almost laughed.

If someone had told him months ago that he would be excited and most of all happy to be going out on a date with Lucy Heartfilia...It amazed him. Something that seemed so improbable just a short time ago was now about to happen.

He was nervous with anticipation of the evening but he knew that everything was going to be fine. He and Lucy had gone out together plenty of times. The only difference now was this was official. They were going to be going out on a date. It almost blew his mind. He couldn't believe he had gathered enough courage to even ask her. He had asked her out before, but at that time he wasn't aware of his feelings for her...back then it was only about sex in his mind...how wrong had he been...But now that he had done that, why stop?

Gray stood up and Lucy watched him as he began to pace back and forth between the coffee table and her pink couch that stood in front of her. Her brow furrowed.

"What is it?" She asked, almost preparing herself to have him take it all back, her stomach twisted at the unpleasant thought.

He shook his head slightly. "Fuck," he mumbled to himself over and over again before stopping suddenly, facing her. "Okay. This is it. I hate when people have things to say to one another and they never say it because they're too scared or too stupid," he began to ramble. "And yes. I know I've been keeping this from you long enough but now that I know of this myself I won't keep it from you..I don't plan on ever keeping anything from you." He scratched at the back of his head again and stared straight into her eyes, not daring to look away from those deep brown orbs of hers. "Lucy, I like you."

She returned his stare. A blush spreading over her cheeks. "I like you too Gray."

He shook his head. "No. I LIKE you. Like, like you."

"I know Gray. And I like you too," she said it again. She said it so casually, he wasn't sure if she still understood the exact meaning of his words. He stared at her, confused, and she smiled. "I like, like you too," she furthered with almost a look of relief upon her face, hoping that it clarified it for him.

But he continued to stare at her. She stood up slowly, her stomach a weave of heavy knots. She couldn't believe she was just coming out and saying this. She had planned on never telling him. She was going to be one of those people that never spoke of their feeling towards the person she harbored them towards.

"I like you, Gray, like a girl likes a guy."

That must have cleared it because his face broke into a grin. "Yeah?" He asked and she smiled, almost laughing, nodding her head. "Wow," he breathed. "What a morning." She did laugh at that and he grinned widely at the sound. "Lucy Heartfilia likes me." He laughed shortly. "You like me. You really like me."

Laughing, Lucy leaned over the coffee table and pushed him playfully, but Gray caught her wrist and pulled her towards him, almost pulling her over the table. Cupping the back of her head in one hand while holding both her wrists with the other, he kissed her, neither caring the least for the morning breath or coffee still hot on their tongues. The kiss was hard and passionate and it was leaving no room for her to misinterpret her feelings for him. When they finally broke apart, both were breathless.

She opened her eyes slowly and stared at him. "So...tonight?"

He continued to grin, nodding. "Of course...I'll pick you up around seven."

"We're not staying at your apartment again, right?" She teased. "We're going out on a real date?"

He smirked, coming around the coffee table, managing to keep his hand on her head, his fingers tangled in her hair. She smiled up at him and he couldn't help but kiss her again. So he did. He lowered his mouth to hers and he felt her fingers curling around the material of his tee-shirt at his hips, tilting her head up, allowing him, inviting him to kiss her deeper.

She moaned softly when he swiped his tongue into her mouth, slowly beginning to tangle it with hers, and he reveled in the sound, pressing his body against hers, determined to illicit another moan from her. Lucy had the sexiest moan he had ever heard and he reveled in the knowledge that he had gotten the sound from her.

"Its going to be the best date you've ever had." He panted once their mouths separated.

She laughed, his arm dropped down to wind around her hips, bringing her body securely against his. What was this women doing to him? He couldn't seem to stop touching her and Gray had never been much of a cuddler with women.

"Really? Best date ever, huh?" She started, staring right into his deep blue eyes. "I don't doubt it will be." She smiled and he kissed her.

* * *

Romeo sat at the bar counter as he looked around the guild. His eyes stopped at what he seemed to be looking for. She sat on a table with Levy and they both seemed to be laughing about something. The way she smiled and the sound of her giggles made his heart beat faster. He quickly turned away and turned to see Gajeel sitting next to him.

"Gajeel-san?" The dragon slayer slowly turned towards Romeo and raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"

"How do I get a girl to like me?"

Gajeel dropped the piece of metal he had been chewing on. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Romeo, that now slightly blushed and looked away, embarrassed.

Gajeel sighed loudly. "Dump a bucket of glitter on yourself and stand in the sunlight. She'll come running."

"What?!" Romeo gave him a look and Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"If you don't want to do that...then grow a pair and talk to her." He stated and Romeo gave him a look.

"Gajeel! What kind of advice is that?!" Mira exclaimed, walking up to them.

"My advice." He blurted out and Mira sent him a glare that made him shiver slightly.

"Don't listen to him, Romeo." Mira told the young boy, getting his attention. "If you want to be together, you have to-get-her." Mira smiled at her smart words.

"But how?" Romeo asked. "By dumping glitter on yourself." Gajeel repeated and Mira grunted loudly. "Shut up!"

"Give her a fish!" Happy suggested, flying up to sit on the counter. Romeo raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"I can't believe little Romeo is in love!" Lisanna clapped her hands with a grin. She ruffled his hair slightly and winked at him. "Just tell her you like her and maybe get her a flower. She'll like that." She told him. Romeo smiled up at Lisanna and nodded.

"I've never been in love...But I imagine its similar to the feeling you get when you see a table with a bunch of food just for you." Natsu thought aloud. Mira sighed and Lisanna giggled.

"Idiot." Gajeel mumbled as he chewed on metal.

Levy looked over at the small group that sat together at the bar. She caught Romeo's eyes looking over at Wendy and she smiled. The way he looked at her was way too cute in Levy's eyes. "Seems like someone is looking over at you." She pointed out and Wendy turned around. Her eyes locked with his and they both blushed a deep red and quickly looked away from each other.

Levy giggled and stood up. "Well, I got to go see Lucy.. See you later Wendy..And remember, love is something you feel right here." She pointed at her heart and Wendy giggled. "I know, Levy-san." Levy grinned. "Good."

Wendy watched as Levy started walking out the guild but was stopped by a yell. "Wait up! We want to go as well!" Mira yelled and Cana followed. Levy rolled her eyes and the three girls left together to go see Lucy. Gray had just walked inside the guild when he saw the three girls run out the guild.

He wore a grin as he walked towards the counter. Wendy looked away and noticed Carla sitting next to her. "Oh, hi. When did you get back?" She asked. Carla looked up to her and shrugged. "Just now." Wendy smiled. "You were with Happy, huh?" She giggled when she saw Carla blush a little. "You've been hanging out with him a lot lately."

Carla rolled her eyes. "The stupid cat keeps giving me fish and I couldn't help say yes to hang out with him." Wendy nodded and looked away. "But you still like him." Carla blushed and crossed her arms, not willing to answer her.

Erza sighed loudly as she sat on the bar counter. She looked around the guild and turned back to stare at her favorite cake. "It seems like everybody is in a relationship or in love." She mumbled. "And I'm just here like, 'I like this cake. Its a good cake'." She took a bite from her cake and sighed. She had said that, but deep down she knew that a certain blue haired mage made her heart skip a beat whenever she thought about him.

Love seemed to be blooming around Fairy Tail.

* * *

** A/N:** Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews! I'm glad all of you have been enjoying the story! Hope you liked the chapter! Please R&R! I love to read what you thought about the chapter!

Thanks for reading! :D

~IceKeys121


	14. Chapter 14

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 14~_**

"You're acting completely ridiculous. You know that, right?" Lucy questioned Levy later that afternoon. A few minutes after Gray had left her apartment Levy, Mira, and Cana showed up to visit her. "We just went out for diner...nothing serious.."

Levy glared at Lucy. "Nothing serious? The guy still likes you! I saw him this morning and he seemed pretty serious to me! He wants you back...It's serious, Lu-chan." Lucy bit her lip as she looked down to play with her hands.

"Who are we talking about?" Mira asked. Cana sighed loudly. "I'm so freaking lost. I need you guys to clarify to me whats going on."

"Its not a big deal." Lucy mumbled.

"Lu-chan," Levy said and her tone was one of patience as if she was dealing with an impossible kid, or maybe even Natsu, that didn't understand the most obvious of theories. "This is very much a big deal. You HAVE to know that. Sting still likes you and he's trying to win you back. And on top of it all you didn't have the decency of telling me you went out with him! Again!"

Lucy crossed her arms and did her best to try and keep from rolling her eyes at her best friend.

"Wait.. you went out with Sting?" Mira asked, disbelief completely showing in her face. "Again?" Cana questioned, looking almost exactly like Mira.

The blonde sighed. "We dated a while ago..." Lucy turned to Levy, "I know that maybe going out with him again wasn't the best idea but at the time I thought it would be...I thought if I dated Sting again I would be able to forget Gray..." Lucy smiled as she thought of Gray. "But I don't have feelings for Sting anymore..I love Gray and for once I'm almost sure that he feels the same way about me."

Mira's face lightened up at Lucy's words. She squealed at the thought of a new formed couple. "Did he confess?!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement.

"Well...Yeah...He said he liked me." Lucy blushed and smiled when Mira hugged her tightly.

"He confessed...?" Levy asked, her eyes widened when Lucy nodded.

"So you chose Gray? I'm confused...So Sting was never an option?" Lucy turned to Cana and shook her head. "I dated Sting before..I used to like him but...I've moved on...I fell in love with Gray. Sting wasn't an option...Its always just been Gray."

Levy stood up and shook her head. "So after what Sting did you didn't even consider him? I know I've been supporting your relationship with Gray...But after what you told me about Sting...I think you should really consider your decision."

Lucy looked a bit shocked at Levy's words. "What do you mean?"

"I think she means that Sting might be a better choice." Cana answered.

Lucy turned to Cana and gave her a look, only getting in response a shrug from her.

"I don't mean that...I'm just saying that maybe you should try and give Sting a chance...Don't completely go with these new feelings you're experiencing for Gray...what if its just the sex you like about him?"

Lucy glared at her. "What?!"

"Look, Lucy, you ended your relationship with Sting because he wanted sex...But now you've fallen for a guy that only wants sex with you and you're fine with that..."

"He doesn't only want sex! He asked me out today...I'm going on a date with him tonight." Lucy crossed her arms and huffed. Mira smiled and pushed Lucy towards her closet.

"We should start getting you ready than! Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

Lucy sighed and shook her head at Mira's rambling.

"I'm glad he finally asked you out." Levy smiled. She walked over to Lucy, who stared at Mira as she looked through her closet for what seemed to be the perfect outfit for her date.

"Thanks." Lucy turned to Levy and smiled. "Lu-chan...The only reason why I'm telling you to consider him it's because I feel like you should give him a chance before turning him down."

"But I don't like him..."

"I know...Its just the way he looked when he told me he couldn't stay away from you...There was so much hope in his eyes..but at the same time he looked as if he knew he would be rejected..I guess I just felt bad...And after you told me about that beautiful date he took you to...I thought he deserved a chance...He's done so much more for you than Gray and-"

Lucy stopped her as she shook her head. "I don't want someone who promises me the moon and the stars. I want someone who promises to lay on the grass and watch them with me." Levy looked over at her friend with a knowingly smile. "And I think Gray can give me that..Not Sting."

* * *

Gray sat at the counter as he stared at the ice cubes floating in his drink. He couldn't stop thinking about Lucy, about their date, and how she had said she liked him.

"Why is Lucy going out with me?" Gray couldn't help himself from blurting out.

He wasn't usually like this. He was never like this. He was confident to a cocky degree. He never fretted over women or what they thought of him. But suddenly, he was attacked with a barrage of questions he didn't have the answers for and he wasn't used to understanding anything when it came to the opposite sex.

Gajeel turned to look at Gray and gave him a look. If Gajeel was surprised by the question however, he didn't act like it. He stared at his drink as he sighed. "Opposites attract. Hate turns to love. Girls fall for an exhibitionist instead of Prince Charming and all that crap. Thats why Bunny Girl is going out with you." He responded.

Gray raised an eyebrow, turning to give Gajeel a confused look. "Did you get all that crap from Levy?"

"Despite what she thinks, I do listen to her. Occasionally," Gajeel grinned.

"You do know that half the stuff you said had nothing to do with Lucy and me, right?"

"Levy talks about a lot of couples...Sadly its not just your relationship problems she talks about..."

"Really?"

"Yeah.. Now do you need some advice or something? 'Cause I don't give out advice I-" Gajeel stopped when he heard Gray sigh loudly.

"I know, I don't need any of your sarcastic comments."

"I'm not sarcastic. I'm brutally honest."

Gray rolled his eyes and grunted loudly, plopping his head down on the counter. "You're no help."

"Well I'm sure she doesn't hate you. She wouldn't be going out with you if she did." Gajeel tried to reason after a few seconds of quiet. Gray sighed. "Was that supposed to help me?"

"If you don't want a sarcastic answer, then don't ask a stupid question." Gajeel murmured. "The girl told you she liked you. You shouldn't be questioning the reason for her wanting to go out with you. Idiot."

"Well this seems familiar." Natsu commented, taking a seat next to Gray and grinning as he stared at Gray. The way he sat on the counter at the moment reminded him of Lucy.

"Damn, another idiot." Gajeel cursed, turning away from the two teenage guys seating next to him. Natsu sent a glare his way. "Whats your problem?"

"Hmmm...Lets see...There are several people in the world I find unbearably obnoxious and would rather not be around...and you are all of them." Gajeel answered, returning the glare.

"You-" Natsu stopped when he saw Romeo running towards Gajeel. "Gajeel-san! The Twin Dragon Slayers from Sabertooth are outside the guild waiting for you." Romeo informed as he looked over at Gajeel.

"Sting and Rogue are here?" Natsu asked and Romeo nodded in response.

At the mentioning of Sting, Gray quickly raised his head from the counter and turned to stare at the doors of Fairy Tail. He glared and stood up, ready to get rid of Sting but was stopped by Gajeel. "They came to see me."

Gray watched as Gajeel walked away and sighed loudly before plopping himself down on the stool.

"Why do you think they're here?" Natsu questioned, glancing every few seconds at the guild doors.

"No idea." Gray murmured, going back to staring at his drink. He slowly turned to Natsu. "Can't you hear what they're saying?"

Natsu raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Yeah! I just need to concentrate." Natsu turned towards the guild doors and after a few seconds his eyebrows shot up. "They're talking about Lucy.." Natsu mumbled, turning to look at Gray surprised.

"Lucy?" Gray glared at the thought of Sting trying to get close to Lucy again. He quickly stood up and rushed towards the guild doors, missing Natsu's stupid warning. The next thing he knew his back was meeting with the floor.

"Ouch!" Gray looked around to see what he had tripped on and grunted loudly, finding out that he had tripped on a banana peel.

"Who left this here!" He yelled, glaring at everyone around him. "Gray, did you just fall?" Said man turned around to glare at the small blue cat that grinned up at him, trying hard not to laugh.

"No. I attacked the floor." Gray stated, rolling his eyes at Happy's stupidity.

"Backwards?" Happy asked laughing.

Gray sighed loudly. He didn't have time to deal with Happy. He turned away and yelled, "I'm freaking talented!"

The raven haired man stood by the guild's doors and noticed Gajeel talking to Sting, Rogue just stood beside Sting quietly.

"You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try." Gajeel stated, looking completely annoyed by the conversation he seemed to have at the moment.

Sting sighed loudly. "Thats not really what I came here to hear."

"Well...what else do you want me to tell you? Lucy seems to really like Gray and from how your date turned out with her, it seems like she only sees you as a friend now.."

"Yeah...but I can try and get her to like me again..." Sting mumbled and Gray's eyes widened. _Again_?

"Look from what Levy has told me...When girls say 'let's just be friends..' it almost always means 'never talk again'. Doesn't mean you can't still try though. Just something for you to think about...Things will most likely not turn out so pretty for you...That's just my advice...Take my advice if you want...I don't use it anyway."

Sting chuckled and nodded. "Thanks...I thought you didn't give out advice?" Sting smirked when he saw Gajeel grin.

"Nah..I usually don't...Just felt like helping you out a bit...You seem a little desperate.."

"I'm not desperate! I'm just trying to start over with Lucy. Try and date her again..." Gray's heartbeats seemed to want to jump out of his chest as he heard Sting's words. _They...dated_?

"You and Lucy dated?" Natsu stepped into the scene and Gray was a little surprised to see him there, asking the same question he wanted Sting to answer so badly.

"God...this idiot again." Gajeel murmured. "He did say he wanted to date her again...I'm sure any idiot could understand that they obviously dated in the past."

"Well it wasn't so obvious to me." Natsu stated, glaring at Gajeel.

"Well my theory has been proved wrong. I guess not every idiot can understand that."

"I'm tired of your stupid sarcastic comments!" Natsu exclaimed, stepping closer to Gajeel raising his fist in anger.

"Well, sarcasm is the best ability to insult idiots without them realizing it." Gajeel crossed his arms and grinned when he saw Natsu drop his fist and actually think over his words.

"But I realized it."

"Oh, so you were considering yourself an idiot? Well its good to see that you at least accept your stupidity."

"You.." Gray grew tired of the two dragon slayers and stepped out of the guild and pushed Natsu away from Gajeel. "You two can deal with your differences later." They both huffed loudly and looked away from each other.

Gray walked up to Sting and gave him a angry scowl. "As for you, stay away from Lucy. I don't care about your past with her...She's now with me and I don't plan on letting her go."

Sting raised an eyebrow in amusement, accepting Gray's challenge. "We'll just see about that." He stated before turning around and leaving. Rogue gave them one last glance before following Sting.

"So...I'm confused...Are Lucy and Gray together now?" Natsu asked, scratching his neck as he tried to come up with an answer on his own.

"Gosh...Some people just need a sympathetic pat...On the head...With a hammer." He looked over at Natsu and nodded. "More than one will be needed in your case. Your stupidity is far too progressed and just keeps increasing."

"You better stop insulting me! You metal freak! You've been asking for a damn fight for a while!"

"I'm not insulting you. I'm describing you." Gajeel started laughing when he saw Natsu yell out in frustration and tried punching him...tried...

Gray sighed and walked away...He didn't have time to deal with these two idiots...He had a date to get ready for.

* * *

Lucy stood in front of the full-lenght mirror in her bedroom, turning one way and then the other, trying to convince herself that she looked fine and that she wasn't nervous in the least about her impending dinner with Gray that evening. She was going out with Gray Fullbuster. On a date. How on earth had that come about? She almost wanted to laugh at how unbelievable it was. One minute, they were just friends with benefits and now, Gray was asking her out on a date and she was happily accepting.

"Beautiful," Mira smiled, standing behind her. Cana was laying in her bed, looking over at Lucy and nodding, agreeing with Mira. Levy walked over to Lucy and smiled, she had a hairbrush and bobby pins at the ready to style Lucy's hair. "You seriously look beautiful, Lu-chan."

Lucy blushed, staring at her reflection. She had entertained the idea of buying a new dress for tonight but she hadn't had the money and had to make due with certain selections in her closet.

Tonight, she wore a light pink dress, it was long from the back and short form the front, giving a good view of her long legs, the long skirt flowing down to her knees from the back. She hopped the dress was appropriate for tonight.

"What do you want to do with your hair?" Levy asked.

"Oh," Lucy's hands went to her hair. "I don't think I should wear it up..."

Mira nodded in agreement. "I'd look better down..maybe a bit curly from the ends." Lucy nodded, liking the idea of curling her hair a little.

They heard Cana sigh loudly. "I am so glad I'm not in that world anymore. I swear, before I used to go on a date with a new guy every Friday and sometimes tried to be someone I'm not. I don't even understand why people do that actually. Why put all of this effort into not being yourself? What if the relationship actually goes somewhere? You got to know one version of a person only to realize that they're not like the real version of them. It's exhausting and pointless."

Lucy couldn't help but smile. "Excellent pep talk, Cana."

"Right," Cana's cheeks flushed a bit as she finished up her bottle. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I'm not talking about you and Gray. I'm just talking in general. You and Gray already know each other."

"That's true," Lucy nodded. "We know each other and we've still agreed to go out."

"I think that's amazing," Mira said quietly as she began to run the brush through Lucy's hair. "I've seen how you two act around each other. From the first time I saw you both stair into each others eyes...I just knew that something like tonight was inevitable."

"We're very different," Lucy couldn't stop herself from pointing out.

"So are Gajeel and I," Levy shrugged.

"That's different. That's Gajeel and you," Lucy said. "You two just work together."

"And what's stopping you and Gray from just working together?" Levy questioned. Lucy didn't know how to respond. Mira sighed softly. "I'm not going to let you do this, Lucy. You are not going to doubt this. You're going o go out tonight and have fun with a man who's perfect for you and you're not going to think about anything else."

Lucy watched Mira through the mirror's refection. "Gray's perfect for me?"

Mira didn't even hesitate in nodding. "We all think that." Lucy looked over at Cana and Levy and fond them both grinning at her.

She smiled and once her eyes met with her reflection, her smile only grew wider.

* * *

Lucy looked up at the dark night filled with beautiful stars. She turned to look at Gray and smiled at how the moons light reflected on his face. His eyes slowly turned to looks at her and she blushed when their eyes met,quickly turning away. He took her hand in his, linking their fingers together in a natural motion that neither stopped to think about and ponder.

"So...are we almost there?" Lucy asked.

He stepped aside and let her go through a narrowed alley first, his hand ghosting across the small of her back. Once he went through as well, his hand found hers again and they walked through the dark streets. They still had a bit more till they arrived at the restaurant and Gray was glad it wasn't too cold outside that night. Lucy looked absolutely beautiful and he had stopped and stared when she had opened her door when he had come to pick her up. She had smiled and blushed when he handed her a bouquet of roses. She had hugged him so tightly and thanked him so many times that he had lost count.

"Just a bit more," Gray nodded. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

They soon came to a stop in front of a small restaurant decorated with christmas lights around the huge trees surrounding the restaurant. A few tables stood outside, already occupied by couples. They entered the restaurant and Gray noticed it was quite full. The entrance was packed with people waiting for a table. He could hear loud-voices talking, overlapping, silverware clattering together, soft music playing. He hadn't been to the restaurant in a few months and holding Lucy's hand he made his way to the front hostess podium. They would be needing to wait a couple of minutes but neither of them complained. They easily found a bench near a window and quickly sat down. They were both quiet and yet, it was completely comfortable. Neither understood how this had happened. When had it all changed? When they lost their virginity to each other? When he asked her to be friends with benefits? Their job with Levy and Gajeel? They couldn't pinpoint the moment when they had stopped being just friends..When they became more than friends yet, they still never really were lovers..Where they now finally lovers or were they still less than lovers?

Lucy couldn't help resting her head on his shoulder. He smelled like winter and something that was just entirely Gray that made her feel comforted. He always smelled the same. It almost made her want to nuzzle her nose into hi jacket but she refrained. That might be sticking a toe into crazy territory and she didn't want anything to ruin tonight. She had figured out weeks ago that she enjoyed his company and she didn't want anything to taint tonight- their first date.

Gray didn't seem to mind and he smiled to himself. He hesitated for a moment before he reminded himself that he wasn't the type to hesitate so much with women. He rested his hand on her knee and she shifted closer to him. The hem of her dress had ridden up just a fraction and her legs were crossed. Her skin was pale and warm beneath the coldness of his hand. He smiled a bit wider. Success. Now, he just needed to keep himself from running his hand further up her thigh and feel more of her bare skin like his fingers itched to do.

They were soon directed to their table. Gray stepped aside and let Lucy walk first, following their hostess up to the wide stairs that led to the second floor that was open in the middle, surrounding the main dinning floor below. He rested a hand lightly on the small of Lucy's back as she walked in front of him to the table.

A comfortable silence settled over the table as their hostess handed them two menus and then left the table. Lucy quickly opened the menu to scan over the offering-immediately noticing that there were no prices listed-but Gray watched her instead. He noticed a blond man sitting a few tables away from them and memories from what he had found out from Sting came back to him. He slowly turned back to look at Lucy but before he could say anything a waiter appeared with a bottle of wine, pouring two glasses. When he left, Lucy leaned into the table.

"Gray...there are no prices," she pointed out to him though she knew that he knew.

He had been here before and knew exactly about the cost of the food. He probably just ordered without worrying about how much it cost. She didn't know why but her stomach clenched at that. She didn't want him to spend too much.

"Get whatever you want, Lucy, please," he then added, staring into her eyes, almost pleading with her to go along with this. He knew that she was probably incredibly uncomfortable with this but this was what he wanted to do. He wanted to show her a night that she had never experienced before. He didn't want her to worry about money.

She looked at him for a moment, her lips parted, ready to say something else, but then she decided against it and looked back at the menu.

As Gray watched her he wondered how her dates with Sting were. Had he taken her to fancy restaurants? Walks on the park? Had the date he had seen been their first? Since when had they dated? Why didn't she tell him about it?

His head hurt from so many questions that ran through his head. He wanted answers. Maybe not from all of them but there was one that stood out from the rest...The one that bothered him the most.

"Lucy?" The blonde slowly looked up at him and he took a deep breath before continuing.

"Why didn't you tell me you dated Sting?"

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews and for all the favs and follows! You guys are so awesome!

Just a quick announcement to any of you that read my other stories, they are ALL on hiatus until I finish this story. I'm very busy at the moment and barely have time to write this one so I wont get to writing the others until I'm done with this one..

Q: How many of you love Gajeel? Cuz I do! I don't know why but I love his personality and the way I get to play around with his sarcastic comments. He's just awesome :D

Please R&R! I would love to read your thoughts on the chapter! But no pressure..you don't have to if you don't want to :P

Thanks for reading!

~IceKeys121


	15. Chapter 15

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 15~_**

An uncomfortable silence settled over the table. Lucy's eyes widened at Gray's question and she had dropped the menu she had been holding just as he said the last word. How had he found out? She didn't know what to do and as much as her stomach churned or her heart pounded, she knew she had to answer Gray; how would she even explain her reasons of keeping it from him? Why had she even kept it from him?

Lucy looked down, trying to think of the right words to say- but Gray watched her instead. She was avoiding meeting his eyes and he nearly sighed. The date had barely begun and already, it was turning out to be a complete disaster.

He didn't know why he asked that. The jealousy and anger had gotten to his head and now he wished he would of just stayed quiet. But he knew he couldn't. He wanted to know everything about her relationship with Sting. Had he been her first kiss? Had he...touched her? Anger burned inside him at that though. He bit his lip and looked away. He didn't know what to do and he suddenly wished that he could excuse himself to the bathroom and try and calm himself.

Lucy slowly looked up and nearly sighed. She hadn't imagined what her date with Gray would be like- having never even entertained the notion that something like this would ever happen- but somehow, she hadn't thought it would be like this. She never thought her relationship with Sting would pop up in their conversation tonight. She felt uncomfortable and she could feel him looking at her from across the table but she was desperate not to meet his eyes. For once, she had no idea what to say, how to answer him and fill this thick silence between them. She looked straight at him, capturing his gaze. She captured her bottom lip with her teeth as she thought over what she would say.

"I-I didn't tell you because I didn't think it was necessary..." She was nervous, her hands were shaking as she answered him, nervous feelings steering inside her.

He couldn't stop watching her. Asking her that had obviously been a mistake. She was quiet, uncomfortable, her fingers clutching around the menu so tightly, he saw blood training and turning her knuckles white. He wasn't sure, now, why he even brought her here. He wanted to show her a nice time but he didn't have to ruin it with his stupid jealousy.

"Hey," he said suddenly, closing the menu and setting it aside. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asked and her eyes widened at the question. He smiled a little.

"Are...are you serious?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Nothing is keeping us here. The restaurant has a nice backyard ...why don't we go walk around there instead?"

"I thought..." she frowned. "I thought you really wanted to eat here."

"I lost my appetite. Do you want to stay?" He watched her closely. "If you want to stay, we'll stay."

"Gray..." she looked back to the menu still open in her hands before back to him. "I does smell delicious in here," she said and he smiled again. "I-I don't think its fair to ruin tonight because of a simple question.. It wasn't fair that I kept it from you and I should of told you about it..." she shook her head at herself. "I want to have fun with you tonight."

"Come with me," he said suddenly, an idea striking him.

"What?" Her eyes widened again as he stood up and he took her hand, all but unceremoniously pulling her from her chair. He grabbed the neck of the bottle of wine and then practically tugged her from their table, towards the stairs that led to the restaurant's ground floor. "Gray," she almost laughed at how ridiculous this seemed.

He simply tossed her a smile from over his shoulder and didn't offer an explanation even as he led her through two large glass opened doors that led into restaurant's backyard. The garden looked beautiful at night, the sound of the fountain was soothing and the scent of flowers flowed the entire place. Colorfully infusion popped right into their eyes once they entered the garden.

Gray kept a slow pace, leading Lucy by the hand, guiding her along the path as she was too busy admiring he foliage to mind where she was walking. Her eyes sparkled in he pink dusk that was settling over the garden.

"This is amazing," she said as they wound through the rose bushes near the path leading to a table.

A few steps away, Gray noticed an older couple sitting at a table. He noticed them smiling their way and a faint smile crossed over his face. Lucy was still standing admiring the nature around her when Gray heard the soft voice of the older women. "Beautiful girl you got their boy." Gray turned around and grinned, Lucy slightly turning to look over at the older couple.

"She is isn't she? I'm lucky to have such a cute girlfriend." Lucy froze at his words. Girlfriend? Did he just call her his girlfriend? She looked at him but he was smiling and it was as if he hadn't noticed the use of the word.

"Take care of her." The old men told him and he smiled. "Of course." Gray sat down at one side of the table and Lucy slowly sat down, catching the older couple smiling at her before sitting down across from Gray. He set their bottle of wine down between them. He still hand't let go of her hand but she didn't mind. She couldn't look away from him and she couldn't seem to stop smiling. She was now apparently his girlfriend and she didn't feel like arguing with him. She actually like the thought of it all. Him calling her that, it felt right. Was it too soon? Were they moving too fast?

"Does it feel better out here?" He asked her.

She looked around the garden and then back at him, nodding and smiling. "This is something, I can honestly say, that I'll always remember." He seemed pleased at that. "If we ever come back here, we should do it like this again."

"And we can wear jeans," he added, releasing her hand to shrug out of his suit jacket. He then rolled the dark blue sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows. "So, you'll want to come back here with me then?" He asked.

"Well," her cheeks felt warm. "You did just say I was your girlfriend."

"Ah," he smiled. "So you did catch that. You didn't immediately start screeching at me in protest so I wasn't sure."

"I do not screech," she frowned at him.

"Are you kidding? There have been times when you've screeched at me that it got so high-pitched, only dogs were able to ear you," he teased her.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Well, if you wouldn't just walk inside my apartment whenever you feel like it, half naked, there would be no need for my screeching."

"Leave my nakedness out of this." He said and she was trying not to laugh and he smiled.

"Oh, please. We both know that I find your body insanely sexy," she said.

That made him raise an eyebrow. "Insanely sexy? Really now?" His interest was peaked.

"And we both know that I'll never say that again," she joked.

"Steel trap," he tapped his temple with his finger. "I'll always remember you said it."

"What if I get you to drink too much wine tonight? Will you remember then?" She asked.

He grinned. "Trying to get me drunk and then seduce my insanely sexy body?"

She was trying her hardest not to smile but her eyes were practically sparkling and her cheeks were flushed and she just looked so insanely gorgeous to him in that moment, he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

Minutes passed. They stared at one another and the dark garden light up with light all around. A young waiter came and settled two wine glasses on their table. It shook him from his trance and quickly thanked the waiter before he left. Looking back at Lucy he poured them two fresh glasses from the wine bottle. She was looking around and when she turned she found Gray handing her one of the glasses.

"You know...I've never had a girlfriend..Just went out with a-"

"You don't have to tell me," she shook her head and then took a small sip of the wine.

"Sure I do," he paused and looked at her. "I don't want to keep anything from you."

Lucy looked at him for a moment and then nodded slightly. "You can tell me anything you want to, Gray," she said softly. "And you know that if you ask, I'll tell you, too."

"Was Sting your first boyfriend?" The question was instant, as if it had been on the tip of his tongue for far too long now, but he didn't even know it had been there, waiting to jump off the instant a door opened and opportunity presented itself.

She seemed completely stunned by the question and her mouth hung open as she stared at him.

He rubbed a hand through his hair. "Shit. I'm sorry. I had no right to ask that."

She took a moment to collect herself. She took another small sip of wine and sighed softly. "Yes. Sting was my first boyfriend," she told him, staring directly into his eyes. "We decided to keep it a secret but...I didn't want that..I didn't like sneaking around and keeping my first relationship a secret." She admitted, scratching he forehead and then tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Gray watched her, waiting for her to continue.

"I'm not going to lie, I really did think Sting was the 'one'. There was a time I really did think I was in love with him. I loved him but there were things, many things, that didn't work between us. I'm even beginning to wonder if what I felt for him was love..but...already, compared to what I feel for you-" she swiftly cut herself off and Gray felt his heart still in his chest.

Her cheeks blushed and he knew that he hadn't imagined her saying that. Love? Was she talking about being in love with him? That was way too soon. He may have never been in a committed relationship but he knew very well that speaking of love was happening way too soon. It wasn't right He didn't know how he felt about Lucy. He liked her, had affection for her but love?

Lucy stood up, resting her palms on the table and looking at anything but him. "Do you want to go for walk?"

Gray smiled and stood up. They both started down one of the winding garden paths, just the two of them walking along the moonlight. They didn't talk much, still the awkward moment lived a couple of minutes fresh in their minds. He placed his arm around her, only noticing what he'd done when she sighed contently against his shoulder. Gray thought about retreating but the smell of Lucy overwhelmed him and it didn't seem like an option.

"Gray?"

"Yes?"

Lucy's voice filled the air. "Can I ask you something?"

He kissed her hair tenderly and nodded calmly.

"Have you ever been in love?"

He stopped walking and stiffened at the thought of love. He just realized that he liked her and she was now asking him if he had ever loved anyone...He really didn't know what being in love even felt.

What did that word even mean?

Lucy moved back a little and peered up at him. "Gray?" Her voice was so quiet it sounded like a purr to his ears that made him feel the butterflies he had never felt before.

Gray sighed as he let go of her slowly. He lifted his arm to run his hand through his hair when Lucy grabbed it and held his hand firmly in hers.

"You're so mean to your hair," she said, shaking her head.

Lucy lifted her free hand and pushed it back through his hair, exactly as he would of done, except with a light touch and at a tantalizingly slow pace. He wasn't sure how he was still standing because it felt like his bones had melted away under her touch. His eyes closed and he tilted his head to lean into the feel of Lucy's fingertips against his scalp.

"So, have you?"

"What?" Gray asked, opening his eyes and feeling as if he'd just woken up out of a haze.

Her hand came to rest on the nape of his neck. "I asked you if you've ever been in love."

"I've never been in love. I've never felt anything special for any girl. You're the first girl I've ever liked."

She smiled. "Does that make me special?"

He couldn't form any words. His mind had given up. He nodded and shrugged, grinning when he saw her raise an eyebrow. Lucy's hand let go of his and rose to sit with the other one on the nape of his neck. She leaned into him and smiled, her body making it hard for him to breath.

"So why am I special?"

A million thoughts ran trough his head, a million answers traveling his mind for her question.

"Because I've never met anyone quite like you."

He honestly didn't know if he moved to kiss her or if she pulled him in; he thought they both happened at the same time. Their lips brushed together lightly. His hands found Lucy's waist, his tongue flicked out to moister his lips. She looked up with lidded eyes and for a moment he was in control, his lips pressed firmly against hers. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. She pulled back, lips bright red, and cheeks flushed. She looked up at him and he felt his heart stop once he heard what she said.

"I love you."

He felt his head spin as he looked at her with wide eyes. He felt nervous and every time he had to talk when he was nervous he would always stutter. He rubbed the back of his neck slowly as he avoided her eyes. "Lucy...look, I-well, I don't...I'm not sure what to, um, say-"

Lucy's eyes snapped at him fiercely. "No, you don't have to say anything."

Gray saw the pain in her eyes, seeing the sadness coming out of them. He didn't like it when she was upset like this...and to think it was because of him. "Lucy-"

"No Gray, its fine. Really." She gave him a sad smile be fire walking away.

Gray followed behind closely the entire time but she wouldn't stop walking away from him. She was walking way to fast for a girl wearing heels. He grabbed her arm and she stopped, not turning to look at him. "Lucy, you don't understand."

"Leave me alone." She sighed stepping out of the restaurant and walking out into the cold air again.

"Lucy just listen to me!"

She turned around and his heart dropped when he saw her watery eyes look at him. She sighed silently and looked away. "Gray, just leave me alone..okay?"

He shook his head. "No-"

"Please! I want to be by myself for a while. Just...leave me alone..For me."

"Where are you going?" He asked quietly after a minute of silence.

She shrugged and looked away as she wrapped her arms around herself. The wind blew her hair swiftly as she looked up at the stars in the night sky.

"Home, I guess."

"I'll walk you home."

"No! Why won't you listen to me? I want to be alone, Gray. Alone! Just leave me alone.."

"Lucy...I-I-"

He was stopped when someone pushed him away from Lucy. He looked up to see Sting standing in front of Lucy, angry dark blue eyes looking straight at him.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Gray hissed.

"I was walking around here and I heard Lucy's voice and came...It seemed she needed help." Sting walked over to Lucy and looked down at her, she stared at Gray and slowly turned to Sting.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Lucy bit her lip and nodded, quickly turning around before Gray saw the tears that were to come.

Gray watched them walk away and frowned. He grabbed her arm and turned her around. She was on the edge of tears and his heart stopped once he saw her face. Yet he couldn't stop himself from saying what he said. "Sting? You're going with him?"

Lucy threw his hand away. "Leave me alone." She said in a stern voice.

Before Lucy stepped away he held her arm again. "I don't trust you with him." He said loud enough for Sting to hear.

Sting rolled his eyes. "Relax Fullbuster; I'm not going to hurt her. You've done enough of that."

Gray cursed as he saw Lucy tear up and walk away with Sting. She glanced at Gray for the last time before hugging Sting's arm and walking away.

Gray watched the only girl he had ever liked walk away with her ex.

He felt numb and sat down on the street, shaking his head and cursing at what he had done to her.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for all the awesome reviews! You guys make me so happy :)  
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please R&R! I would love to hear from all of you!

Next chapter will be out by Monday! So be expecting chapter 16 soon!

Thanks for reading :D

~IceKeys121


	16. Chapter 16

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 16~_**

Hot tears rolled down Lucy's cheeks as she walked silently besides Sting. They stopped after a few minutes of walking and Lucy found herself glancing around her surroundings. It took her a while to recognize where they were at and after a few seconds of looking around the place, she realized they were at the park where she saw Gray and Juvia kissing. Why had Sting taken her here?

"Why are we here?" She asked her thoughts out as she looked back at Sting.

He turned to look at her with a playful grin. "We didn't get to finish our date properly last time."

Did he say what Lucy thought he said? She looked down and sighed softly. "Sting, you're a very sweet guy but-"

He surprised her by chuckling lightly. Lucy raised an eyebrow questionably at him. "Relax. I know you're probably not in the mood for a second date. But hey, if you need someone to talk to then I'd gladly be here to hear you out."

A small smile tugged on her lips as she looked up at him. They walked in silence around the park, it felt nice to have someone close to you when you feel so lonely sometimes...especially at times like these.

"So..what did he do?" He asked her eventually after a few minutes of silence between them.

Lucy looked away for a moment and let out a soft sigh. "He didn't really do anything wrong. It's just I-I said something I shouldn't have said...And I obviously didn't get the answer I wanted from him." Lucy said as she took a seat on an empty swing.

"Unexpected confession?" Startled by the question, Lucy groaned silently, getting a low chuckle from him. "That bad, huh?"

A frown made its way towards her face and she couldn't help but remember what had happened earlier.

She couldn't believe she had confessed her love for Gray to him. It had been too soon for that. But she couldn't keep it to herself anymore..even if she knew that he probably didn't feel the same or at least it was way too soon for him to start thinking about love..He had said he had never been in love before. ...and yet she said she loved him anyway.

Oh God...She told him she loved him...She groaned loudly as she closed her eyes shamefully. Why had she said it? Why so soon? So sudden...

Sting scratched his blond hair. "Let me guess, you told him..." He stopped for a second to think over his words and sat on the swing next to Lucy. "You told him you loved him, didn't you?"

Lucy's eyes widened and she looked away from him. She lifted her chin in denial to mask her embarrassment in being caught so fast. She cursed the tears that gave her away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sting scoffed. "You're a terribly bad liar, Lucy. Accept it as good part of your character."

More tears pooled around the corners of her eyes. He sounded a lot like Gray.

"Am I that bad at lying?" Lucy mumbled and Sting only grinned at her.

After a few seconds of silence he slowly turned to look at her again. "So...did it freak him out?"

Lucy bit her lower lip and looked up at the dark sky. "Of course. He was obviously not expecting it." She heard Sting laugh aloud, encouraging her to continue. "And I'm the biggest fool to walk this earth."

"Oh, I assure you, Lucy, there are a lot more people who are bigger fools than you are."

"I doubt that somehow...you think a person would learn the first time but that's not the case."

The dragon slayer paused to nod understandingly. "I see. So this case is of the complexities of the human heart. Someone once told me that love and common sense doesn't exactly mix all the time."

Lucy frowned, innocently querying whether the man could read minds. "I never said anything about love!"

Sting chuckled at the denial attempt. "I'm said to be quite observant, Lucy. Few things escape my notice, and the way you behave around Gray is pretty much a flashcard of your affection for him."

He wasn't looking at her but by the sound of his voice, Lucy could tell that the last few words were a painful reality to Sting. She stayed quiet for a moment and shifted uncomfortably on the swing.

"Fine," she confessed, not wanting to tire herself even more with the denying. "I do love him. And I'm a fool for falling in love so quickly. Without even thinking about it..And then I go and confess to a man whose never been in love before..who probably doesn't even know what love feels like. I'm pressuring him into feeling something he doesn't even know of and I feel so guilty. I left him behind blaming him and angry at him for not saying he loved me...When really the one who messed up was me...I should of not said anything...I should of never confessed.." Lucy finally breathed when Sting rested a hand over hers as she was speaking so fast to take her breaths.

It felt comforting. She felt her eyes moisten with overflowing emotion again and rubbed them violently to stop the tears. Her monthly cycle should be due soon to make her lose control of her emotions like this.

Sting hesitated but stood up and pulled her into is arms. Lucy's eyes widened at Sting's sudden actions. Keeping her close to his chest, the boy looked down to meet her teary-eyed gaze, and smiling sadly, shaking his head as his thumb wiped a tear away from her cheek. "Don't cry, Lucy," he whispered. "People might think I made you cry."

He looked so comical with his helpless, pleading expression that it prompted a smile from Lucy. His eyes were kind and mesmerizing, Lucy observed.

"Much better," Sting grinned. "I think the old lady who walked by might give me a lecture on chivalry if you had continued!"

Lucy let out a dry laugh, she shot him a teasing glare and pushed him away smirking when she heard him complain. "Thanks." She sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. Sting smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the nearest coffee shop.

* * *

Gray wasn't paying attention to where he was walking but his feet seemed to have decided on a destination and his brain didn't argue. When he came to stand in front of the familiar building of Fairy Tail, he didn't stop. He pulled open the door and stepped into the warm guild. It wasn't crowded. Few guild mates sat around tables drinking and laughing. How he wished he could be like that...

How the hell had his evening turned like this? Except for his jealousy coming out during the date, it had all gone perfect. He had had so much fun with her, laughing and teasing and talking in the garden of one of his favorite restaurants in town and he hadn't wanted the evening with her to end. He had never been the one to date but after his first with Lucy, he would gladly go on another and another with her. And then, the kissing in the garden had been phenomenal. He had been so ready for it to be more.

But she had mentioned loved...She had confessed to him that...that she loved him...

She had implied to have strong feelings for him after talking about her past relationship with Sting...He never thought, however, that it was love. It was too soon. Way too soon for any of this.

As Gray walked around the guild he could hear Gajeel up on stage singing one of his horrible songs. Natsu's voice could be heard over the song, yelling out insults and demanding Gajeel to stop his horrible music.

Gray looked around and his eyes settled on a familiar hunched figure sitting at the bar. As he approached, he noticed several empty, over-turned shot glasses and a mug of beer.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one having a bad night.

Gray sat down on the empty stool next to him. Lisanna walked up to Gray and he ordered the same as the man that sat beside him. The young Strauss gave him a look of concern but didn't say anything. She went to fill him a mug instead, glancing at him as she did.

Alzack sighed, lifting his head, but he didn't look at Gray. Instead, he looked straight ahead at the rows of hard liquor bottles behind the bar. "Shouldn't you be on a date?" He asked as Lisanna placed the mug in front of Gray and he picked it up, taking a sip.

"Shouldn't you be at home with your wife?" Gray asked in return, looking at him closely.

Alzack sighed again. "Tonight, Bisca told me that she was pregnant again." Gray's eyes widened and Alzack looked down at the smooth surface of the bar, the mug of beer leaving a ring of condensation that he now wiped with his finger. "I lost it," he admitted and his shoulders were heavy with the guilt and shame he was feeling. "I was surprised..I just...freaked out. I already take enough jobs to try and give Asuka everything she needs and more. After hearing Bisca say she was pregnant I-I had this crazy image of me working a bunch of different jobs and not being able to see Asuka grow or even the baby...And I..."

"Freaked out," Gray finished for him and Alzack nodded his head rapidly, swallowing.

"The thing is...yeah, we didn't plan on this but we didn't plan Asuka either," Alzack said. Kinana slid a new mug of beer to him. He didn't take a sip from it and instead, clutched it between both hands. "And yeah, having two kids might get crazy but...It's me and Bisca. If anyone can handle it, it'd be use."

Gray nodded in complete agreement. "Very true. You two are amazing with Asuka."

Alzack almost smiled, it pulling at one corner of his mouth but it didn't fully form. The idea was there though. "Maybe it'll be a boy. I would love to have a boy." He took a small sip of beer. "It'll be a lot but it'll be okay. It has to be. This is my family, Gray," he turned his head and looked at him.

"It'll be okay," Gray assured him and then lifted his mug of beer. "Congratulations."

For the first time all night, Alzack smiled and this time, it formed and took on his face. He lifted his mug and clanked it against Gray's. "Thanks."

They each took a chug before settling the mugs down on the bar.

"Thank you," Alzack said again. "Why are you here tonight? Why aren't you with Lucy?" He asked. He lifted an eyebrow when Gray physically stiffened next to him at the question. "How is it possible that the date went wrong? Mira was getting ready to announce you two as a couple tomorrow.."

"She told everyone already?!" Gray exclaimed.

Alack shook his head. "She told Lisanna and I overheard it."

Gray sighed. "It was fine," he said, staring down to his beer. "It was...perfect, actually. We were talking and laughing and I took her to one of my favorite restaurants and we just had a fun time."

"What happened then?"

"She mentioned love."

Both of Alzacks's eyebrows were now raised.

Gray pushed his beer away. His stomach was twisting and he couldn't take another sip of it. "She told me that she was in love with me. We were kissing in the restaurants garden and she just stopped and dropped the bomb on me."

"Okay..." Alzack waited, expecting more to the story.

"Its our first date and she already said the three words...Its way too soon for that! At least for me..." Gray looked at Alzack as if he should understand.

"Well its normal for girls to develop feelings faster...I guess...But I have to agree with you on this...Its a bit soon for the whole 'I love you' confession..Yet you look a bit freaked out about it..Are you scared of falling in love or something?"

"What?" Gray sat up straight. "That's not what...I'm not scared of falling in love..I just think its a bit soon...Thats all."

"I hope Asuka never falls in love with a man as complicated as you...Love is not something to fear."

"I didn't say that!" Gray nearly exclaimed. "Its just...I've never been in love before and I'm not sure what to expect. This is something new to me..."

"Love is unexpected. You can't blame Lucy for falling in love so soon." Alzack said before taking another sip of his beer. "And she can't blame you for not responding to those feelings yet."

Gray went silent, turning his head, staring straight ahead.

"I'm going to assume that she did get mad at you and thats why you're here, right?"

Gray nodded. "She was mad and kept on saying she wanted to be alone." Gray stopped and his hands tightened around his mug. "She was crying and she left with..with Sting."

"Sting? From Sabertooth?" Alzack looked surprised and his eyes widened when Gray nodded.

"They used to date." Gray informed him and Alzack's jaw nearly dropped.

It took him a few seconds to actually get back together. "And he suddenly appeared? Out of nowhere?"

"Sounds weird but yes. He claimed he was just walking by and heard Lucy and she seemed to need help. Of course he was up to playing the role of her hero. Idiot." Gray murmured.

"I take it that you don't believe his story."

"Of course not! I'm sure he was following us. The bastard wants to get back together with Lucy. I heard him tell Gajeel earlier today."

Alzack gave him a pointed look. "What are you doing here then? The girl you like is out there with her ex, that wants to get back together with her, and you're here? Doing nothing!"

"She doesn't want to see me.."

"So what? Lucy told you she loves you. Thats a huge thing. Girls usually take forever to tell the guy they like that they love them. Most girls wait for the guy to confess first but she told you. She's obviously at a point where she trusts you and also, she really likes you. Just like you really like her."

Gray didn't argue that. Instead, he lowered his eyes and looked down at the bar. He knew what Alzack was trying to say. She'd become someone special to him. She made him feel things he had never felt before. So much had happened between them in the past few months-some good, some bad-but here they were and he considered her to be his girlfriend. He cared about her. So much.

He could admit that to himself. He had to tell her that now.

She had been braved enough to confess her feelings to him and what had he done? He had freaked out and watched her walk away with her ex. He should of stopped her and taken her away from Sting. She should be with him right now, not with Sting.

The night wasn't over yet.

He drained the rest of his beer and stood up from his stool. Alzack grinned, standing up as well.

"I have to go talk to Lucy," Gray said.

Alzack nodded. "I have to go talk to Bisca."

"Good luck," they both said to one another at the same time, smiling.

Gray was about to step out of Fairy Tail but was stopped by a light pull of his jacket. He turned around and saw Wendy look up at him with flushed cheeks.

"Do you love Lucy-san?" She asked so quietly that Gray nearly bent down to catch what she said.

His eyes widened at the question. "You heard what I said to Alzack, didn't you?" He asked and she looked away, embarrassed.

"A little." She confessed. Gray sighed and Wendy looked up at him, studying his face.

"Does Lucy-san make you happy without doing anything?" Wendy suddenly asked and Gray was confused by her question, yet he still nodded. "Yes but what does-"

"Do you see a special spark in her that makes your heart beat like crazy?" Wendy smiled when Gray raised an eyebrow. "Yeah-"

"Do you feel weird when you're around her? Does she make you feel things nobody else has ever made you feel?"

Gray nodded slowly and Wendy grinned. "So..Do you love her?"

He sighed loudly and Wendy watched as he looked around the guild, as if trying to find the answer around the guild.

He turned to look at her and shrugged. "What is love?" He felt stupid for asking her that but she seemed to know way more than he did.

"Love is the most amazing thing in the world. Love is hope, it fills our dreams and if you are in it, you need to enjoy it because love doesn't always last forever." Gray looked amazed at Wendy's words and she smiled widely at her definition. Gray stayed quiet for a few minutes and Wendy slowly walked up to Gray. "Love is something you feel right here." She whispered, pointing at his heart.

Gray smiled and ruffled her hair. "Thank you." He whispered and ran out the guild.

"Ara ara. You really memorized all those definitions, huh?" Mira was now standing next to Wendy, placing an arm round her shoulders.

"I just wanted to help." Wendy answered, staring at the place Gray had stood at minutes ago.

"Well I should give you credit for this one. You're a great matchmaker." Mira grinned and Wendy giggled.

"Its funny how I can help Gray-san figure out his feelings, but when it comes to helping myself, I don't know what to do." Wendy whispered.

* * *

They ended up having a pretty good time and Lucy had finally stopped crying, but the swell in her eyes and the redness of her nose has yet to abate. It had been nice to hang out with Sting, Lucy was enjoying his company too much that they ended up calling it a night after they found out it was 11 o'clock. He had offered to walk her home and now they both made their way towards Lucy's apartment.

"What do you plan to do tomorrow?" Sting asked, tying to make conversation.

"I'm staying home all day." Lucy answered.

Sting sighed, playing his mind reading role once more. "To avoid Gray, right?"

Lucy exhaled, accepting that the man read her like a book. "It won't hurt as much if I avoid him. I need time to get over this and he probably needs time too. I know I said something that shocked him. It was too sudden and now we both need time...I'm sure everything will be fine after a while!" Her smile displayed the opposite of what she really felt. "I just need time to forget all this.."

"Lucy..."

"Its all right, Sting. I said something I shouldn't have. We were having an awesome date and I ruined it. He even said I was his girlfriend...Am I still? Or did we..kind of break up?"

"He asked you to be his girlfriend?" Sting said so softly that it sounded like a whisper.

Lucy nodded. "More like stated...Though I'm fine with it...I kind of liked the idea."

"You could probably get someone better than him." Sting stated and Lucy turned to look at him.

She tugged his arm so he would look at her. "Sting, I'm sorry. You deserve someone better than me, you really do."

"I know." He grinned cheekily.

Lucy rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand.

Lucy let out a soft breath and sighed, shrugging in nonchalance. "I don't need Gray! There can be someone better for me: someone who's not so damn complicated and doesn't have a head the size of a hot air balloon or someone who doesn't even understand anything! Or the most infuriating man who constantly tests my temper's capacity to explode!"

As she went farther along with the adjectives the more she failed to suppress the threatening tears until confidence finally caved into broken sobs.

Sting glanced nervously at the people while they secretly shot curious stares at the women wallowing herself in the much loathed trenches of self-pity and tears.

"Someone like me." Sting whispered but Lucy didn't hear him.

"I don't blame Gray though. Its too soon for love.." She hiccuped, "He probably thinks I'm going too fast. He could have said he loved me too but he didn't want to lie..." Lucy stopped to clean her tears and sighed. "The worst feeling is wanting to cry but having to hold it in because your in public." She whispered and smiled brightly at Sting.

"I don't care that he doesn't love me.." Sting watched as she kept walking and suddenly stopped. Lucy's tears rolled down her face as she watched the street in front of them. "My head says, 'Who cares?' But then my heart whispers, 'you do stupid.'..."

She turned to Sting and shrugged. "I'll get over it." Lucy smiled and turned to keep walking. Sting stared at the girl and sighed. She had been talking about the same thing for far too long. And mostly everything she had said didn't make sense.

Sting took hold of her arm, bringing her to a halt. She slowly turned around and realized that they were already standing in front of her apartment.

"We should hang out like this more." Sting told her and she smiled, nodding. He cleaned her tears with the back of his hand and sighed. "You can fake a smile, but you can't fake your feelings."

"I'm not-"

A finger silenced her in a second, rendering her speechless as Sting leaned over and pressed his lips right over hers.

* * *

Gray walked with a slight hurry to his step. He had to get back to Lucy's. The worst thing he could do was let this stew and fester and not talk with her immediately about it. She would probably tell him to sod off but he didn't care. He had to fix this. Lucy had been honest with him. She told him how she felt about him and if he didn't see to this now, it would ruin everything. She would probably never tell him anything ever again- if she spoke to him still after tonight. He had to apologize. He had to grovel. He could only hope that someday she would let him kiss her again. Lucy Heartfilia was a mind-blowing kisser. He tried to remember other kisses before hers for a comparison but he could never seem to get hers out of his mind.

He remembered he had taken her a single rose once and she had really liked the gesture. He thought it would be a nice gesture. He stopped at store that was still opened and bought a single red rose and his eyes caught a pack of two vanilla cupcakes and he took them.

He paid for everything and resumed his hastened pace towards her apartment. He wanted to get to her as soon as possible. His heart was thumping heavily in his chest, nervous with anticipation, not a single part of him knowing what to expect when he saw her again.

He tried to think what he would say to her. This had to go perfectly.

He couldn't lose her. He knew that now.

As he drew nearer to Lucy's building, he saw two people outside and he slowed his pace, trying to make out who it was. Lucy was standing in front of her building, her arms crossed over her chest, not pissed off like they had been with him but rather crossed as if she was hugging herself, protecting herself.

Gray came to a near-screeching halt when he saw who was standing in front of Lucy.

Sting.

What the hell was he still doing with his girlfriend so late at night? Gray took another step forward, intending to make his presence be known but something made him stop. He wanted to watch this. He needed to watch this. This was Sting- the guy Lucy used to date, her first boyfriend. The guy she had kept a secret relationship with from the guild, from her friends, from him.

He couldn't hear what they were saying but he could see Lucy doing most of the talking. Sting finally spoke and Gray could only make out something about faking her smile.

Gray clenched his jaw when he watched Sting reach out and silence her with his finger. Lucy stared at him, her words halting and her eyes looking up at Sting's. Gray's fingers grasped the stem of the rose so tightly in his fist, his knuckles turned white. He couldn't look away. He heard his blood roaring in his ears and he wanted to storm there and punch Sting in the jaw and toss Lucy over his shoulder like a caveman but he was rooted to the spot.

He waited for Lucy to step away from Sting, to push him away and say that she was no longer available, but she didn't. She didn't do anything.

Not even when Sting leaned in and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all the reads and reviews. I'm so happy that you're all liking the story! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please R&R!

Thanks for reading :)

~IceKeys121


	17. Chapter 17

**_More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers_**

**_Chapter 17~_**

Erza sighed as she watched Mira work behind the bar. It was late and she wast tired. However, she didn't feel like going to Fairy Hills. Someone had been on her mind more than usual lately and she really wished she could just ignore all thoughts concerning _him_...But she couldn't. She felt her cheeks heat up and her heart race at just the thought of his smile. She groaned as she pictured him, staring at her with those sweet eyes and that beautiful smile of his. She covered her red face with her hands and sighed.

"Everything okay, Erza?" The Titania looked up to see a concerned Mira looking at her. She nodded slowly and took a sip from the tea she had ordered earlier. "Everything's fine."

Mira raised an eyebrow and hummed as she tapped her fingers on the counter. "Are you sure?" She grinned and Erza knew there was no way out of this one. "You were thinking about _him_, weren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She could feel her face heat up and tried to look at anything but Mira. She heard the barmaid sigh. "You're just as bad as Lucy at lying. And more when it comes to Jellal."

Erza couldn't even imagine how red she was. Her face felt hotter than ever and she looked down, embarrassed at how weird she must look.

"Who said anything about Jellal?" She whispered and Mira giggled. "Who else could it be?"

Erza cursed under her breath and slowly turned towards Mira. "Its not like anything between us would ever work out..."

"And why is that?" Mira crossed her arms and Erza sighed.

"It just wouldn't." Erza could hear Mira's steps as she walked over to her, she rested her arms on the counter and clicked her tongue.

"Thats just an excuse to the real reason." Erza gave her a puzzled look and Mira smiled as she slid a hair behind her ear. "You're scared of starting a long distance relationship."

Erza looked away and found watching Lisanna and Cana laugh at the jokes Natsu was coming up with more amusing than the talk she was having at the moment.

"Its not that...I'm scared of these feelings. I didn't plan on falling in love." Mira's eyes widened at the confession. She watched Erza as she looked over at the small group laughing and cheering at the other side of the guild. "I had always made plans before hand. Always was ready for anything but this, this is something that I'm not close to ready for."

"Love is unexpected." Mira whispered, following Erza's gaze but her eyes landed on a certain man with blond hair that sat close by, grinning every now and then at Natsu's jokes.

"I know that." Mira looked back at Erza and found her looking down at the bar. "I just didn't know it would happen so quickly." She played with her hands and moved her long hair out of her face, looking out one of Fairy Tail's windows. "One day I caught myself smiling for no reason, then I realized I was thinking of him. Ever since he appears in all my dreams...In which I get to see him again, touch him, hug him..." She looked away with flushed cheeks.

Mira smiled. Erza had never been so open about this topic with her before. It felt nice to have Erza open up to her, it felt like they were more than just childhood rivals, they were friends, close friends. Mira had always admired Erza's strength and personality. She was independent and feared nothing and no one. She had, at one point, been Mira's goal to achieve. She knew she wasn't as strong as her but she had gotten close. However, seeing Erza's vulnerable side made Mira realize how similar they both were. Made her realize that Erza wasn't all that perfect..no one was.

Mira turned around and grabbed a pen and a paper. She turned around and dropped them in front of Erza. "Write him a letter." Erza's eyes widened and she looked up at Mira, mouth slightly opened as she tried to stop her but Mira shook her head.

"Just do it. Tell him how you feel. Tell him that you want to see him. If you don't do nothing about it now, you'll regret it in the future, trust me." Erza stared at her for a minute before slowly moving her hand to grab the pen.

"I don't know how to even start." She murmured, blankly staring at the white sheet of paper. "I have no idea what to write." She sighed.

Mira grabbed a couple of glasses and started cleaning them,giving Erza a few glances every few minutes. However, the Titania just sat there, staring at the paper as if the words would magically appear. Mira sighed loudly and walked over to Erza.

"To write a good love letter-" Erza opened her mouth to try and comment on Mira's choice of words but the barmaid only raised a hand to stop her from saying anything.

"You ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say, and finish without knowing what you have written."

Erza raised and eyebrow and stared at Mira for a while before her face broke into a grin. She smiled and nodded, letting out a soft thank you. She took the pen and let her emotions flow with the pen. Every thought she had had been written in that small paper. She looked over her writing once she had finished and smiled. "I don't even know how I'm gonna get this to him."

Mira smiled and calmly took the paper from Erza. "Leave that to me."

Erza watched Mira disappear with her letter behind the bar and turned to find Natsu looking over the request bored. He grinned and cheered when he found one that peeked his interest. Happy flew over to him and took the job request to read over it. Erza slowly stood up and stretched. She needed to do something that would distract her for a bit. She walked up to Natsu and took the request from Happy, looking over what kind of job they had chosen. "Mind if I join you?" She asked and Natsu grinned. "Of course not. I was thinking of asking Lucy to come with us. Team Natsu hasn't gone on a job in a while."

Erza smiled and nodded. "It has been a while." She whispered, looking over at the guild doors and wondering what Lucy and Gray were doing at the moment.

* * *

Sting didn't think of himself as a bad guy. He didn't try to be. Sometimes, he knew he could be an asshole but every person could be. It wasn't like he was the only asshole in the world. He made mistakes and he screwed up and made poor choices but he always tried to do the right thing in the end.

He knew how it looked. Lucy had just confessed to him that she was in love with Gray and here he was kissing her. She didn't feel the same about him, yet he couldn't stop himself from kissing her.

It had been hard for him baring to see her being so close to Gray. He regretted letting the relationship end between them. He wanted her to be happy, yes, but seeing her with Gray- knowing that their relationship was more than just friendship- triggered something in him. He honestly had no idea of what was going on between them and he wasn't sure what it was but he didn't like it. He was jealous. He was more than sure of that. Hearing Lucy say that Gray had claimed her as his girlfriend infuriated him. He didn't like the thought of some other man having Lucy. She was special to him and he wanted her to be happy, he wanted to make sure she was okay. And Gray didn't show to be good enough for her, he just kept making her cry and hurt. She deserved better.

He cared a lot about her. He promised he would support her and be happy for her if she ever dated anyone else, they both had promised this after becoming friends. He knew he should have been happy that she had found someone, but he wasn't. There was something about Gray Fullbuster he didn't like. It wasn't just because most girls seemed to always stare as he passed by or that he was dense enough to never notice. It was more than that. There was just something wrong with him. He seemed to be hiding something; holding something back.

Sting knew he had already had his chance with Lucy and it hadn't worked out quite well for either of them. He just couldn't bare seeing another guy hurt her. She was meant to have that beautiful smile of hers always on her face. She wasn't supposed to be crying right now. She didn't deserve that.

He wasn't sure what got into him to actually have enough courage to kiss her. One minute, he had passed by the restaurant she had been with Gray, helped her get out of there, walked with her in the park, wanting to tell her how much he missed her and that he missed spending time with her, but she had been upset the whole time. She had been crying most of the time and Gray's name would come out of her mouth every now and then. Just as they stopped in front of her apartment and she stated that she was okay, faking a smile, something made him want to kiss her, not caring about the consequences.

Lucy's eyes closed on instinct when she felt Sting's lips against hers but almost immediately, she knew how wrong everything felt. Sting's hands were on her cheeks and they stayed there. When Gray kissed her, he couldn't seem to keep his hands still and she discovered that she liked that. She really liked that. It was almost as if he had to touch everywhere of her that he could and it made her feel desirable and wanted and a thousand other things that only Gray could make her feel. Gray Fullbuster made her feel so much and she felt so much for Gray.

Not Sting.

Not anymore.

"No," she turned her head away, breaking her lips away, and she kept her eyes closed, taking a moment to gather herself.

Sting's hands fell from her face and he backed away. "I'm sorry," his apology was instant and Lucy nodded her head, struggling to swallow and breathe.

"Lucy."

Her eyes snapped open and both she and Sting looked to see Gray standing a few steps away from them, a white plastic bag in his hand. He was staring at them and it was obvious that he had just witnessed the entire scene. Her heart- thumping in her chest- froze before dropping down to her feet. His face was blank but even on the darkened street where he stood, she could see a flash in his eyes. He was pissed. And hurt. But it reminded her that she felt the same about him right now.

But he had com back- just in time to see Sting kiss her.

It was weird. Gray had always been the last person she expected she would fall in love with. Sting, on the other hand, was everything she had always dreamed about, he was close to perfect. But she hadn't been happy with their relationship. If someone would of told her months ago that she would be falling in love with Gray she would of probably laughed. But now, Sting had kissed her but he couldn't make her lips tingle the way that Gray could. He made her entire body spark.

"What are you doing here?" She asked and the instant she did, she wanted to take it back.

Gray smirked. "You know, I actually have no idea. I wanted to come and apologize for earlier but it's obvious to me that I was out of my fucking mind to come here."

His voice was low and he was pissed. She knew he was. But so was she and as far as she could see it, she had done nothing wrong.

"What is he still doing with you?" Gray demanded of her.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Sting frowned at him. "You've done enough to her already, you should just leave her alone."

"What happens between me and my girlfriend is none of your business," Gray swiftly responded, his eyes never leaving Lucy's. "But don't worry. I'm sure she'll gladly keep sobbing onto your shoulder if you offer her so much comfort."

He saw her physically flinch and it was now his turn to regret his words.

"Girlfriend?" Sting's jaw tightened. He had heard Lucy mention it already, about Gray stating she was his girlfriend but now, as Sting heard Gray say it and saw the look in his eyes he knew he was serious.

"That's right," Gray finally cut his glare over to Sting. "Girlfriend. Which means, keep your fucking hands and lips off of her."

"You have no right to tell me what to do. After all you've done to her you have no right to call her your girlfriend-"

"Stop!" Lucy exclaimed, her voice echoing in the seemingly quite street. Both Gray and Sting looked at her. "We're not going to do this. We shouldn't be acting like this. Sting, thanks so much for today. I'm glad we spent time together and you're right. We should hang out more."

Gray's jaw clenched at that and she turned her head to look at him.

"Gray, we need to talk."

Her voice was serious and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, waiting. They both moved at the same time. Sting walked away from Lucy and Gray walked towards Lucy and she rolled her eyes as they blatantly bumped shoulders into one another. When he was close enough, she reached out and grabbed the lapel of his jacket, pulling him towards her. They stood, facing one another, staring at one another.

With a sigh, realizing that he was going to be as stubborn as ever- as if he hadn't done nothing wrong- Lucy grabbed his face and tugged him down to hers. When she pressed her lips to his, she almost sighed. His lips were cold, yet warm and soft against hers.

This was the kiss she wanted. It wasn't Sting's kiss that made her tingle to the very tips of her toes. It was him. Gray Fullbuster. She had felt something special about Sting when they dated but her feelings for him weren't close to what she felt for Gray. She loved Sting and always would- as a friend, as a close friend.

But this man who's lips she moved hers against, this was who she wanted. And he wasn't kissing her back.

"Gray," she murmured against his lips.

He shook his head, pulling away from her. "You kissed him." He stated and Lucy felt her heart sink. His eyes looked down at the ground as he shook his head. "I was planning on..." He stopped and shook his head again.

Lucy felt her eyes water and she tried taking his hand in hers but he moved away.

"I came here to see you because I don't want to lose you." He slowly looked up at her and his heart nearly stopped at the sight of her eyes, they were puffy and red, tears rolled down her face as she stared at him. Thats when he realized it, Sting hadn't been lying, he could tell Lucy had been crying ever since she left the restaurant with Sting. And he had caused this. Just because he hadn't realized his feelings soon enough. It had actually taken a 14 year old girl to stick in his head what it was he felt for Lucy Heartfilia.

He walked up to her and cleaned her tears with the back of his hand, slowly stroking her cheeks as his eyes caught hers. She stared at him with her lips slightly parted, as if trying to find the right words to say. Her hand reached for his cheek and stroked it softly. He slowly wrapped his arm around her waist, trying to pull her closer to him. She was warm and soft and beautiful and she was his. Fuck Sting. Fuck everyone. Lucy Heartfilia was his.

He dropped the bag to the ground- not caring about the rose and cupcakes at the moment- and his other hand swept across her cheek, burying deep in her hair. He stared at her and couldn't stop. He still couldn't understand why it had taken him so long to see her because now that he did, he didn't want to look away.

Lucy felt a pull in her stomach and her heart had risen from where it had dropped to her feet to begin thumping in her chest. She had never been stared at by a man the way Gray was staring at her right now and it was too intense, she almost wanted to look away but she wasn't the type of girl to hide. She had done too much of that for her liking but not anymore. Gray stared at her and she stared right back.

"I start to feel sick when I picture you out of my life." He whispered in her ear and she felt her face heat up. "I care about you, a lot. And I'm sorry if I made you feel anything less than incredible."

"No, I'm sorry. I was rushing things and didn't stop to think about your own feelings." She said softly. "I just...I always thought that when I said I love you to someone they would say it back."

"I'm sorry," he said again, tightening his arm around her. "I reacted badly. I was surprised you said it so soon...But I really don't see myself falling in love with anyone else but you." He whispered the last part but Lucy heard it all. Her eyes brightened and her face turned a deep red as she stared at him.

Lucy was quiet for a moment and then she felt her cheeks blush. "I think thats the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." She whispered and he grinned, leaning in. He didn't kiss her though. He rested his forehead against hers.

"I'm amazed when I look at you. Not because of your looks, but because of the fact that everything I've ever wanted is right in front of me."

Her cheeks flushed by his words and she suddenly felt nervous. She felt a bit dizzy as she stood there, staring right into Gray's deep blue eyes.

"Gray," she said softly, trying to keep her voice steady, trying to sound brave. Her fingers unlinked from behind his neck and her hands rested on his cheeks. "I love you," she whispered and it may have seemed too soon to say such a thing to him but it was the truth.

He was staring at her and she almost checked the corners of her mouth with the tip of her tongue to make sure she didn't have anything on her face. She normally loved it when Gray looked at her.

When Gray looked at her, usually, he did it in such a way that actually gave her flutters in the stomach. When her feelings for him began to change and his were also changing, he would look at her with that scruffy face and cocky smirk and intense blue eyes and she felt like doing something she had never done before and had only heard about in romance novels.

She almost swooned. Actually swooned. Her heart would speed up and her knees would feel as if they were about to fail beneath her and she would feel as if she was swaying.

She never actually swooned in front of him. Like telling him he was handsome, if she was to swoon, he would grin in that infuriating way of his and he would never let her forget it.

But the way he was staring at her- after she had told him that she loved him- he was doing nothing but making her nervous.

She knew it was too soon to say that she loved him. It felt as if just the week before, she had been denying to Juvia of having anything to do with Gray and of not being her love rival.

But everything had changed and she knew she wasn't the only one who felt it. It all started with that night at Mira's birthday party, when she lost her virginity to Gray and soon lead up to them becoming friends with benefits. Everything over the past few months had been leading them to this moment.

So maybe it wasn't too soon to tell him that she loved him.

It wasn't too soon for her, at least.

Something sank inside of her. He had come back. He had come back with a rose and cupcakes and told Sting that she was his girlfriend and he had come back. She was happy just by that and didn't expect him to say it. She would give him time. All that mattered to her now was that she loved him and wanted to be with him no matter what. She sighed and lowered her eyes. She was tired and really needed some rest. It had been a long day.

"I love you, too," Gray whispered so suddenly, she nearly gasped.

She lifted her head and looked at him with wide eyes. He was staring at her and he instantly locked her eyes with his so she could look at noting but him. There was nothing but him.

Her heart froze mid-beat in her chest.

"I love you," he said again. "Lucy, I love you," he said for the third time and this time, he smiled a little and she almost wanted to laugh. He looked so amazed by it. She kew how he felt but she didn't open her mouth to tell him this. She just smiled and he smiled, too, his hands lifting to her cheeks. "I can't believe how easy it is to say," he murmured more to himself, as if he was telling himself that these were words he would never regret.

She smiled a bit wider, almost laughing again. "Its kind of crazy," she told him.

He broke into a grin. "Why? Because we started it all wrong? You probably barely remember our first kiss."

She laughed. "I actually do remember our first kiss. It was right after we entered my apartment that night. I kissed you.."

He laughed to and leaned in and it seemed as if he was going to kiss her but instead, his forehead came to rest against hers and she closed her eyes, suddenly finding herself overwhelmed. He smelled like mint and winter and was warm and he was everywhere around her. She slipped her arms around his waist and he circled her shoulders and he drew her in close.

"This has been an interesting first date," he said and she laughed, nodding in agreement.

"I'll never forget it though." She whispered, smiling as she laced her fingers behind his neck, she stretched her neck and pressed her lips to his. Gray's arms immediately encircled around her as tightly as he could and he pressed her body to his so close and secure, air had a hard time passing between them.

Her lips left his and she kissed his cheek as she whispered the three words she was finally confident enough to say without regretting saying it to him, "I love you."

Gray smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I love you, too."


End file.
